Empathy: The Best Medicine?

Empathy may be just as good of a medicine as laughter seems to be. At least, this is what researchers at Thomas Jefferson University and in Italy suggest. Empathy is an understanding of another’s emotional state or condition and in modern medicine doctors are actually trained to factor out their emotions from a situation and look at the patient and disease objectively. However, being an emphatic doctor may actually lead to less complications and better outcomes for patients, according to the study.

            The researchers measured the relationship between doctor empathy and patient hospitalization for acute metabolic complications. The researchers used the Jefferson Scale of Empathy to measure empathy in clinical settings. They also chose to compare empathy to patient hospitalization for acute metabolic complications because the prevention of such complications is likely influenced by family doctors. There were 129 patients hospitalized for such complications. 29 out of 7,224 patients who had more emphatic doctors were hospitalized compared to 42 out of 6,434 patients who had less emphatic doctors. The researchers emphasized that the number of subjects and the possible applications of the study allow for generalization of the results.

            A few weeks ago, I attended a talk by Jean Decety, a psychology researcher at the University of Chicago, who spoke about empathy and its critical role in our everyday lives. Decety spoke from both an evolutionary and adaptive perspective. According to Decety, empathy was important for the survival of early humans because it allowed them to help one another in times of need which would lead to mutual helping which would help them survive. It also allowed fathers, but mothers especially, to care and provide for their children. Now, empathy often serves to form relationships and nurture them. However, he also briefly related empathy to the medicine. Decety also spoke of encouraging empathy in medicine but cautioned that too much empathy may also be detrimental because it may hinder them from doing their jobs properly and helping others in need.

            Whether it is viewed from an evolutionary or humanistic perspective, empathy is indeed a significant factor in our lives because it allows us to better understand others. Empathy brings people closer together and allows them to live more fulfilling lives. It enriches lives with the flavors of emotion. 

http://www.modernmedicine.com/modernmedicine/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=794107

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