Empathy in Clinical Practice
Dr. Decety’s talk focuses on
evolution of empathy in humans, how it affects us, and what brain systems are
associated with that emotion. One of his
major points is that empathy has always been there. He proposes that empathic
arousal is a flexible phenomenon that is not automatic or reflexive but rather
it has evolutionary roots. He makes it clear that instead of emerging new
networks, newer structures are added to the older ones and they become
integrated with the whole, older network.
He defines empathy as a
feeling/concern for others, way of experiencing emotions that match another
individual’s emotions, and knowing what the other thinks/ feels. The last part of his definition constitutes of
what really a Theory of Mind is about. In order to display empathic behavior,
we have to get interested in others’ thoughts, and feelings. There is a strong
connection between empathy and Theory of Mind. He differentiates between the
simple and most advanced forms of empathy, and again he marks that the most
complex forms of empathy are built on simpler ones. It is not to anyone’s
surprise that empathy has some serious survival benefits and creates the bond
between individuals. The latter one is noticeable in parental care which is the
most highly motivated social behavior. The studies present that pop suckling in
postpartum mothers activates mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic system even more
than cocaine. Empathy not only benefits others but motivates and rewards
individuals who display empathic behavior towards others.
What I want to direct my attention to and what
at the same time I find interesting in Dr. Decety’ s talk is how empathy
effects medical practice personnel. As a
future medical assistant and medical student, I am concerned with costs and
benefits of empathic arousal in medical practitioners. According to Dr. Decety,
too little or too much empathic arousal can be detrimental to the medical
practitioner’s well-being. Empathy, like any other emotions should be kept in the
normal range. Too much empathy could be dangerous causing a personal distress
that can affect our performance to act.
On the contrary, too little empathy can cause underestimation of others’
pain and that can lead to failure to respond to someone’s pain. He mentions the
benefits of doctors turning off the empathic arousal, and these are: no
feelings of alarm or fear, no compassion fatigue, releasing processing
capacities to be of assistance in their practice. There are costs associated
with deactivation of empathic arousal and these are: inefficient estimation of
others’ pain, poor patient-physician relationship, and even higher possibility
for doctors to be sued by their patients. My law & ethics in medical
practice teacher has presented me with the article “Why do people sue doctors”,
and it turns out that incident during treatment/ surgery that caused harm the
patient is not the only reason of why people decide to file a lawsuit against
doctors. Another reason is insensitive handling in the standard of care, which
refers to doctors failing to display empathy for their patients. Empathy has
always played and will play an important role in everyone’s lives.
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