Comments on: Empathy – How Much is Too Much?

By: ERic Vander

ERic Vander — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 05:41:33 +0000

Empathy is a great topic. I think my views have changed througout the years. I know one time I myself wasnt all that empathetic but I am now. I think as far as a Dr. Patient role the emapthy is so important because it creates that connection. For the paient its so important too. The Diet Solution

By: Rental Authority

Rental Authority — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 11:04:48 +0000

I’ve wondered this too. I work as a mediator and have always battled with offering to much empathy. I know at times my empathy has gotten in the way of helping resolve problems.

The line of empathy vs enabling can be thin. Too much empathy can at times enable people to remain firm and not be willing to be reasonable.

By: Belief gives Power to Healing « Healthy in Hong Kong

Belief gives Power to Healing « Healthy in Hong Kong — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:05:09 +0000

[...] my mind, I had to agree with what my family said. [Although too much empathy can be a problemo - http://brainblogger.com/2010/03/21/empathy-how-much-is-too-much/ & more on mirror neurons [...]

By: FitBuff.com's Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog

FitBuff.com's Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:59:05 +0000

Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog Carnival 147…

Monday is Blog Carnivals Day. A Blog Carnival is basically a collection of articles or blog posts, all relating to a similar subject, that are gathered together for your viewing pleasure. You can quickly and conveniently see a list of Article Titles an…

By: Barbara Stott

Barbara Stott — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 13:32:14 +0000

Empathy is not the same thing as emotional attachment.

You can understand a persons thoughts and feelings completely without sharing them or even liking them.

You don’t have to be a sadist to understand how a sadist thinks, and you don’t need to be a gay man to uderstand how and why a gay man enjoys gay sex.

A psychiatrist can never have too much empathy.

Even if you feel that the patient is just like you, you can have empathy and still be emotionally detatched.

It is the attachment that is draining.

But can you chose to be emotionally detatched? And should you?

Doesn’t that depend on which branch of psychiatry you are practicing? And dosen’t that depend on the patient?

If the patient has empathy too, will pshchotherapy ever work, if the doctor isn’t emotionally attached?

Barbara Stott

By: Dr Shock MD PhD

Dr Shock MD PhD — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:57:19 +0000

Don’t agree, to my opinion empathy is not easily learned, it’s a quality not everyone simply has or can be educated. Mostly what is meant by empathy is sympathy. This last aspect of the doctor patient relationship can be energy consuming.
Both have to be teached learned and used with patient care, emotional distance is mostly an excuse not to get involved instead of it being tiresome.
As far as empathy and sympathy are concerned it is unclear whether they represent distinct phenomena or whether they reflect parallel processes that covary across situations.
Empathy is an effortful process by which we try to comprehend another’s experience, while sympathy would be a direct perceptual awareness of another person’s experience akin to the phenomenon of sympathetic resonance. Sympathy does not necessarily require feeling any kind of congruent emotions on part of the observer, a detached recognition or representation that the other is in need or suffers might be sufficient.
Interesting subject of which appropriate emotional distance is mostly not the problem, most doctors already possess that capacity.
Thanks Dr shock