Empathy and Wellness

How essential is empathy to survival?

Dr. Jean Decety, neuroscientist and Irving B Harris Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at University of Chicago, speculates on the correlation between empathy and enhanced survival.  He asserts that not only is empathy found throughout evolutionary history, but that it has deep biological and neurological underpinnings.  Many various species of animals exhibit some kind of altruism and Dr. Decety’s research suggests that even the most advanced manifestations of empathy seen in humans are associated with fundamental, core mechanisms.   Some contend that this progressive form of empathy is what makes humans the dominant species.  But how imperative is one person’s empathy in another’s well being? Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University conclude that patients of more empathetic doctors have fewer medical complications and more positive outcomes.   But before discussing the results of the study, a better understanding of empathy is needed. 

 Jean Decety lectured on what defines empathy during his visit to Loyola on October 30^th.  He described empathy as an identification and concern with the thoughts and feelings of others.  Not only do empathetic individuals recognize the emotions of others but actually match them – in other words, empathy blurs the line between self and other.  Empathy is the social nature of pain – behaviors like crying provide crucial signals to others to recognize the distress and work to alleviate it.  Which brings us back to the central question – for physicians, whose primary concerns are to restore and maintain good health, how vital is empathy in this process?

A team of Thomas Jefferson University and Italian researchers determined that it is in fact quite significant.  “This new, large-scale research study has confirmed that empathic physician-patient relationships is an important factor in positive outcomes,” affirms Mohammadreza Hojat, Ph.D., research professor at the university (Thomas Jefferson University).   The study included 20,961 diabetic patients and 242 physicians in Italy and showed how doctor empathy affects patients; more specifically, it compared empathy measured objectively using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy with the presence (or absence) of acute metabolic complications, including hyperosmolar state, diabetic ketoacides, and coma, in patients.  Results showed that doctors that scored in the higher empathy group had lower rates of patients with complications (29 out of 7,224 patients were hospitalized in 2009 compared 42 out of 6,434 patients treated by lower empathy doctors).  This link between doctor empathy and patient wellness exemplifies Dr. Jean Decety’s research that empathy is both innate and imperative in human survival.  

"Physician's Empathy Directly Associated with Positive Clinical Outcomes, Confirms Large Study." Thomas Jefferson University, 10 Sept. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.; http://www.monitor.upeace.org/images/empathy.jpg; http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad355/LorenzoSteed/empathetic_doctor.jpg