empathy

empathy

- feeling WITH the person

- entering the private, conceptual world of another

- ability and willingness to approach the thoughts, feelings, and struggles from their point of view

direct identification with and vicarious experience of another person's situation, feelings, and motives

sympathy

feeling FOR the person

barriers to empathy

1. planning what you are going to say while other person is talking

2. jumping to conclusions

3. focusing on content only

listening skills

- nonverbal communication

- summarizing

- paraphrasing

- empathetic responding

summarizing

- ensures you have heard all the critical pieces

- give the patient an opportunity to add things that may have been forgotten

paraphrasing

- overarching statement without much detail

- convey, in your own words, your understanding of what has just been said

empathic responding

- reflection of patient's feelings rather than focusing on the content of the communication

- communicating that you are trying to recognize someone's feelings establishes rapport

- key to developing "therapeutic alliance" or establishing trust

effects of empathy on the patient

1. helps with trust of the practitioner

2. helps patients understand their own feelings more clearly

3. facilitates the patient's own problem-solving skills

4. helps patients explore different solutions and ways to cope

advising response

- we fall into our role as "experts"

- advising on medical matters v. personal matters

- cautious about conveying we do not believe patients can arrive at their own decisions

- inappropriate advising may create a dependent patient

- "tell him how you feel or just find another provider"

falsely reassures

- desire to make negative feelings "better"

- often makes us feel more comfortable

- "I'm sure he was just having a bad day"

generalizing responses

- form of reassurance

- takes focus off patient's experience

- may result in inadequate listening

- "I know how you feel. I have to wait for my doctor too"

- "Nobody feels they get enough time with their provider"

quizzing or probing responses

- we are comfortable in the role of "questioner"

- trying to get more info when patient expresses a feeling shifts the emphasis to the content

- "how long does he make you wait?"

distracting responses

- protection response from the listener

- unsure how to respond

- may not be comfortable with subject

- too self-involved to want to engage

- "let's talk about your new prescription"

empathic responses

- listener conveys an attempt to understand the feelings by reflecting them back without judging them to be right or wrong

- "you seem to feel that you are not getting the care that you need."

qualities of empathy

ability to allow emotional situations to be as they are, don't change, judge or try to stop them

barriers to healthy relationships

stereotyping

controlling

depersonalizing

stereotyping

- negative (or positive) can affect the quality of communication

- may impair our ability to listen without judgement

- learn to recognize in order to overcome

controlling

- every patient is an autonomous human being with inherent value

- the goal is to help patients improve their health NOT get patients to do what we say

depersonalizing

- focusing on problems

- talking to someone accompanying the patient rather than patient directly

- ignoring the impact of the disease or treatment on patient's life

- engaging in monologue rather than dialogue

empathy:

is entering the private, conceptual world of another

3 multiple choice options

which one of the following is a barrier to empathy?

focusing on their disease state only

3 multiple choice options

which one of the following is a "advising" response to this statement, "my son's new diagnosis of autism makes me so scared for his future."?

you should get into a support group for parents of children with autism

3 multiple choice options

Patient: "I feel like the dietician always talks down to me and makes me feel insecure."

Provider: "What do they say to make you feel that way?"

The provider's response is considered:

probing

3 multiple choice options

depersonalizing can be:

lecturing the patient and not allowing them to speak

3 multiple choice options