Decety discussed that it is important to recognize that there is a deep evolutionary, biochemical, and neurological basis from which we understand that empathy is not just involved with one specific part of the brain. Instead, it is connected to core mechanisms involved with communication, social attachment, and parental care. He explained that when we see others in pain, we are predisposed to find distress and learn to avoid actions associated with this distress. Thus, it becomes evident that there is a neural network of interconnected regions that are associated with first hand experiences of pain. As humans, we utilize the same system of when in pain and when we observe pain in others, which results in empathetic behavior.
How does this affect us in the "real world"? Well, in many professional fields, empathy can be affected by various factors, particularly in medicine. Decety explained that, in the case of medical students, as their stress levels increased, their ability to empathize decreased. Empathetic arousal is a flexible phenomenon, which means that it is influenced by many external, contextual, and interpersonal factors. The context in which we are placed influences how we process information. In medical fields, doctors find themselves facing stressful situations that can be very harmful to their mental health. Thus, it is common for doctors to create mental barriers that block out any emotional associations involved with stressful situations. As a result, these doctors become less empathetic:
In a recent study published in the New York Times' article, "Can Doctors Learn Empathy?" by Dr. Pauline W. Chen, M.D., empathy training modules were designed by Dr. Helen Riess, director of Empathy and Relational Sciences Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. These modules measured to see if empathy could be "taught" or "restored" in doctors. In a clinical setting, Decety explained that one of the major conflicts that causes a decrease in empathy among doctors, is the fact that they are placed in difficult situations. An example of such a situations would be having to inflict pain as a part of a healing procedure. Whenever there is too little/much empathetic arousal, this can be detrimental to the doctors' well being, resulting in a detached perspective towards patients.
While having a limited amount of empathetic arousal in a clinical setting may have some benefits, such as no feelings of alarm/fear, it also has some serious costs. These include underestimation of pain to others, poor bedside manner, and a filtering out of emotional information. So now what? Are all doctors doomed to an eternal fate of poor bedside manner?
The results of the study preformed by Dr. Riess indicate that the doctors who underwent the empathy training module indicated significant improvement in their empathetic abilities. These modules trained doctors to recognize nonverbal cues and facial expressions in patients, along with ways to regulate their emotional responses. As a result of the training, the doctors were able to maintain better eye contact with patients, interrupt patients less, maintain calmness if their patients became angry/upset, and most importantly, "developed resistance to the dehumanizing effects of medical training."
The ability to (re)learn empathy has opened many doors of opportunity in the medical field. What was once considered to be something individuals were born with, has been proven to be subject to development. With the right kind of training and conditions, individuals will be able to have better control over their emotional responses, and will be able to direct their empathetic arousal in the best way possible. After completing one of Dr. Riess' empathy-training modules, a doctor stated, "I feel as though I like my job again."
I am hopeful that more doctors will be able to experience this phenomenon, and that poor bedside manner and dehumanizing effects will become things of the past.
Source: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/can-doctors-learn-empathy/
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