Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

What is clinical empathy?

  • Perspectives
  • Published:
Journal of General Internal Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Patients seek empathy from their physicians. Medical educators increasingly recognize this need. Yet in seeking to make empathy a reliable professional skill, doctors change the meaning of the term. Outside the field of medicine, empathy is a mode of understanding that specifically involves emotional resonance. In contrast, leading physician educators define empathy as a form of detached cognition. In contrast, this article argues that physicians’ emotional attunement greatly serves the cognitive goal of understanding patients’ emotions. This has important implications for teaching empathy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Learning objectives for medical student education-guidelines for medical schools: Report I of the Medical School Objectives Project. Acad Med. 1999:74:13–8.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bertakis KD, Roter D, Putnam SM. The relationship of physician medical interview style to patient satisfaction. J Fam Pract. 1991;32:175–81.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Markakis K, Frankel R, Beckman H, Suchman A. Teaching empathy: it can be done. Working paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society of General Internal Medicine, San Francisco, Calif, April 29–May 1, 1999.

  4. Blumgart H. Caring for the patient. N Engl J Med. 1964;270:449–56.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Aring C. Sympathy and empathy. JAMA. 1958;167:448–52.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Osler W. Aequanimitas. New York, NY: Norton; 1963:29.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Fox R, Lief H. Training for “detached concern.” In: Lief H, ed. The Psychological Basis of Medical Practice. New York, NY: Harper & Row; 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Suchman A, Markakis K, Beckman H, Frankel R. A model of empathic communication in the medical interview. JAMA. 1997;277:678–82.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Damasio A. Descartes’ Error. London, UK: Macmillan; 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  10. De Sousa R. The Rationality of Emotions. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press; 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Butow P, Maclean M, Dunn S, Tattersall M, Boyer M. The dynamics of change: cancer patients’ preferences for information, involvement and support. Ann Oncol. 1997;8:857–63.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Rietveld S, Prins P. The relationship between negative emotions and acute subjective and objective symptoms of childhood asthma. Psychol Med. 1998;28:407–15.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Frasure-Smith N, Lesperance F, Talajic M. The impact of negative emotions on prognosis following myocardial infarction: is it more than depression? Health Psychol. 1995;14:388–98.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Girgis A, Sanson-Fisher R. Breaking bad news: consensus guidelines for medical practitioners. J Clin Oncol. 1995;13:2449–56.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Roter D, Hall J, Merisca R, Nordstrom B, Cretin D, Svarstad B. Effectiveness of interventions to improve patient compliance: a meta-analysis. Med Care. 1997;36:1138–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Roter D, Stewart S, Putnam N, Lipkin M. Communication patterns of primary care physicians. JAMA. 1997;277:350–6.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Coles R. The Call of Stories. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin; 1989:117–8.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Brody H. The Healer’s Power. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press; 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Charon R. Narrative medicine: a model for empathy, reflection, profession and trust. JAMA. 2001;286:1897–902.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Langewitz W, Denz M, Keller A, Kiss A, Ruttimann S, Wossmer B. Spontaneous talking time at start of consultation in outpatient clinic: cohort study. BMJ. 2002;325:682–3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Levinson W, Roter D. Physicians’ psychosocial beliefs correlate with their patient communication skills. J Gen Intern Med. 1995;10:375–9.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Vanderford M, Stein T, Sheeler R, Skochelak S. Communication challenges for experienced clinicians: topics for an advanced communication curriculum. Health Commun. 2001;13:261–84.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Stein H. The Psychodynamics of Medical Practice. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press; 1985.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Winnicott D. Hate in the counter-transference. Int J Psychoanal. 1949;30:69–74.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Health and Medical Sciences, University of California-Berkeley, 570 University Hall #1190, 94720-1190, Berkeley, CA

    Jodi Halpern MD, PhD

Authors
  1. Jodi Halpern MD, PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jodi Halpern MD, PhD.

Additional information

The author thanks Oxford University Press for permission to use material from Halpern J, From Detached Concern to Empathy: Humanizing Medical Practice, Oxford University Press, 2001.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Halpern, J. What is clinical empathy?. J GEN INTERN MED 18, 670–674 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1525-1497.2003.21017.x

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1525-1497.2003.21017.x

Keywords

Search

Navigation