September 2008 Archives

Doctors have limited empathy skills, study shows.  They were shown to deliver empathy only 10% of the time when talking with cancer patients. 

In audio taped meetings with patients, researchers identified 384 "empathic opportunities," but found that the physicians responded empathically to only 39 of them. Each encounter elicited an average of less than two empathic responses from the doctor.

Listen, my dad was a doctor, so I know all about doctors and their limited empathy skills.  It doesn't make them bad people, just bad at empathy; bad at creating stronger connections.  (Could it be the reason I was drawn to the study of empathy?)

In any case, for all those left-brain, task-driven doctors (or any other professions), try this strategy.  When you hear someone express emotionally, start your responding sentences with:

-  I imagine......
-  I can sense that.....
-  I realize that .....
-  It sounds like you are feeling .....

So when a patient says, "This is kind of overwhelming," a doctor could start out with, "I imagine.....".  And once that phrase starts, you'd be surprised how quickly the brain kicks in to finish the sentence with congruity.  A doctor (of friend, or spouse, or....) could say:

-  "I imagine it can be overwhelming to hear grave news and thoughts of future and family flood your mind." 
-  "I realize you must be feeling overwhelmed at the tragic news and the aggressive treatment plan. It's certainly overwhelming to have to plan for something like this."

As the study states, "The most important job of a physician is also the most important job for a minister or for a lawyer or anyone else: To try and help people cope with the uncertainties of life."

Here's the article: