Emotion Contagion : Before empathy takes place , sensing an emotion is occurring in another or that an emotion is expected of you .
Empathic Accuracy : Your ability to accurately identify and understand emotional states , thoughts and intentions in yourself and others .
Emotion Regulation : To be self-aware and skilled at regulating your own emotions .
Perspective Taking : Seeing through another ’ s eyes and accurately sensing what they might be feeling and thinking so that you can understand what they might want or need .
Concern for Others : Empathy helps you connect with others , but the quality of your response depends on your ability to care about others as well . When you feel emotions with others , accurately identify those emotions , regulate them in yourself and take the perspective of others , your sensitive concern will help you engage with them in a way that displays your care and compassion .
Perceptive Engagement : This skill allows you to make perceptive decisions based on your empathy and to respond – or act ( if necessary ) – in a way that works for others . Perceptive Engagement can be considered the pinnacle of empathic skill , because it combines your capacity to sense and accurately identify the emotions , thoughts and intentions of others ; to regulate your own emotions ; to take the perspectives of others ; to focus on them with care and concern ; and then to do something skillful based on your perceptions . Notably , in Perspective Engagement , you ’ ll often do something for another that would not work for you at all and that might not even be in your best interest . Perceptive Engagement is about meeting the needs of others .
McLaren breaks down empathy into component parts that allow us to see more clearly what is happening within us through the process of empathizing with others . However , the sixth aspect of empathy , perceptive engagement , describes an action component to do something for another , which crosses a threshold that most experts define as the difference between empathy and compassion .
She acknowledges that this action-based definition of empathy is contested in empathy research . However , she claims this action component of empathy to be extremely important because , if you act only as an emotional sponge ( Emotion Contagion ) you may become overwhelmed by the emotion of others , not be able to offer support and shut down .
Whether we consider the action component to be part of empathy or not , I chose to share Karen McLaren ’ s definition of empathy because defining empathy with this addition gives us a deeper , clearer and more robust understanding of empathy . I hope this facilitates increased awareness and more artful use of this life-touching skill during our interactions with our patients .
While we can all continue to learn and grow to get better and better with our skills of empathy and compassion , we must also be mindful and intentional to avoid or reduce the potential negative effects they can have on us . Rehabilitation and trauma counselor Mark Stebnicki coined the term “ empathy fatigue ” to refer to a state of physical exhaustion resulting from repeated or prolonged personal involvement in the chronic illness , disability , trauma , grief and loss of others . While more common among mental health counselors , any overly empathetic person can experience empathy fatigue . According to Stebnicki , “ high touch ” professionals like doctors , nurses , lawyers and teachers tend to suffer from empathy fatigue . 3 The same is true for compassion fatigue and burnout .
I believe that as we better understand ourselves , our emotions and our personalities , we will continue to be better at regulating our emotions in a productive and healthy manner for ourselves and as an important benefit to those around us for whom we care .
References
1
The Meaning of Empathy and Einfühlung by Karla McLaren . karlamclaren . com / einfuhlung-and-empathy /
2
Journal of the American Medical Association , 24 May 1958 .
3
Empathy vs . Sympathy : What Is the Difference ? thoughtco . com / the-difference-between-empathy-and-sympathy-4154381
Dr . Brian Sosnin is a primary care physician practicing at Baptist Health LaGrange Family Medicine .
Did you know ? GLMS recently launched a text messaging service to keep you updated while you ’ re on the go . This will provide information , announcements and opportunities exclusive to GLMS members .
To sign up to receive these messages , please text the word GLMS to ( 833 ) 509-1891 .
Note standard texting rates may apply .
DECEMBER 2021 5