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A study of empathy from developmental, biological, clinical, social and historical perspectives, covering topics such as developmental changes and gender differences in empathy, the role of cognition in empathy, the socialization of empathy, its role in child abuse and the measurement of empathy.
Many mental health practitioners present symptoms that are consistent with their clients' anxiety and stress-related disorders. It comes as no surprise, then, that "counselor impairment" - the stress that comes from treating survivors of traumatic events - is now officially recognized by the American Counseling Associations' Task Force on Counselor Wellness. "Empathy Fatigue" is a term coined by the author after his own experience serving on the crisis response team for the Westside Middle School shootings in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Remarkably, symptoms of empathy fatigue are evident amongst a broad range of professionals: those who treat victims of stressful and traumatic events; those who treat persons with abuse, mood, anxiety, and stress-related disorders; as well as those who work in career and vocational settings or with people with mental and physical disabilities. This guide is also meant for all these groups. This book provides a repertoire of strategies, techniques, and insight designed to increase personal resiliency and decrease counselor burnout and fatigue: Self-assessment approaches, with an in-depth analysis of empathy fatigue and an explanation of this phenomenon from a mind, body, and spiritual perspective. Detailed case studies and suggested questions for self-assessments and self-care. A variety of self-care approaches, providing guidelines to counselors and clinicians to identify their own emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion. .
Does empathy felt while reading fiction actually cultivate a sense of connection, leading to altruistic actions on behalf of real others? Empathy and the Novel presents a comprehensive account of the relationships among novel reading, empathy, and altruism. Drawing on psychology, narrative theory, neuroscience, literary history, philosophy, and recent scholarship in discourse processing, Keen brings together resources and challenges for the literary study of empathy and the psychological study of fiction reading. Empathy robustly enters into affective responses to fiction, yet its role in shaping the behavior of emotional readers has been debated for three centuries. Keen surveys these debates and illustrates the techniques that invite empathetic response. She argues that the perception of fictiveness increases the likelihood of readers' empathy in part by releasing them from the guarded responses necessitated by the demands of real others. Narrative empathy is a strategy and subject of contemporary novelists from around the world, writers who tacitly endorse the potential universality of human emotions when they call upon their readers' empathy. If narrative empathy is to be taken seriously, Keen suggests, then women's reading and responses to popular fiction occupy a central position in literary inquiry, and cognitive literary studies should extend its range beyond canonical novels. In short, Keen's study extends the playing field for literature practitioners, causing it to resemble more closely that wide open landscape inhabited by readers.
The book - which includes essays by physicians, philosophers, and a nurse - is divided into three parts: one deals with how empathy is weakened or lost during the course of medical education and suggests how to remedy this; another describes the historical and philosophical origins of empathy and provides arguments for and against it; and a third section offers compelling accounts of how physicians' empathy for their patients has affected their own lives and the lives of those in their care. We hear, for example, from a physician working in a hospice who relates the ways that the staff try to listen and respond to the needs of the dying; a scientist who interviews candidates for medical school and tells how qualities of empathy are undervalued by selection committees; a nurse who considers what nursing can teach physicians about empathy; another physician who ponders whether the desire to be empathic can hinder the detachment necessary for objective care; and several contributors who show how literature and art can help physicians to develop empathy.
Originally published in 1985, this book sought to thoroughly examine and better understand a dimension of interpersonal relations which at the time had often proven elusive, confusing, and quite difficult to operationalize. Empathy had been diversely defined, hard to measure, often resistant to change, yet emerged as a singularly important influence in human interaction. The Editors lengthy effort to better understand its nature, consequences and alteration was not an easy journey, yet was a rewarding one. This book presents the fruits of their journey, and thus they hoped the reader would feel equally rewarded. The several diverse definitions of empathy are sequentially presented and examined in Chapter 1, in an effort to begin this book with a shared understanding of the major historical and contemporary meanings of the construct. The Editors conclude this initial chapter by subscribing themselves to a particular components definition of empathy, a definition they predict will prove particularly useful in enhancing future understanding, investigation, and application of empathic behaviour. This components definition, therefore, substantially influences and shapes much of the content of the rest of the book.
Contemporary society is in constant change. Transitions and crises occur in every life, regardless of status, ethnicity, sex, race, education, or religion. Yet, the traditional societal forms for helping with these transitions and crises are changing as well. The typical nuclear family has given way to single-parent, blended, or dual-career structures. Religious, health, educational, social service, philanthropic, and other organizational support systems have also changed from their pre-1950 counterparts. As these sometimes evolutionary, sometimes revolutionary, changes have occurred, considerable scholarship and empirical research has attempted to identify and develop methods of helping people encounter these transitions and crises. These efforts have come from various fields: psychology, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, law, social work, nurs ing, medicine, education, labor relations, and others. Each has brought its own theories, research methods, and practical experiences to bear on the problems. One of the methods that these fields have universally been intrigued with is the use of empathy. Empathy, that crucial but elusive pheno menon (so the literature has reported), has been identified as important in human interactions. Labor mediators, legal arbitrators, psychiatric psychoanalysts, encounter group facilitators, classroom instructors, and kindred helpers have been told that "understanding how the other person or group is thinking and feeling" will help that person or group. The anxious parent and troubled spouse have been urged to "understand the other's point of view." Some writers have even argued that empathy is crucial to resolving international tensions and terrorist group violent actions.
Popular interest in empathy has surged in the past two decades. Research on its origins, uses and development is on the rise, and empathy is increasingly referenced across a wide range of sectors – from business to education. While there is widespread consensus about the value of empathy, however, its supposed stable nature and offerings remain insufficiently examined. By critically exploring different perspectives and aspects of empathy in distinct contexts, Exploring Empathy aims to generate deeper reflection about what is at stake in discussions and practices of empathy in the 21st century. Ten contributors representing seven disciplines and five world regions contribute to this dialogical volume about empathy, its offerings, limitations and potentialities for society. By deepening our understanding of empathy in all its complexity, this volume broadens the debate about both the role of empathy in society, and effective ways to invoke it for the benefit of all.
This book is an in-depth reflection and analysis on why and how unsettling empathy is a crucial component in reconciliatory processes. Located at the intersection of memory studies, reconciliation studies, and trauma studies, the book is at its core transdisciplinary, presenting a fresh perspective on how to conceive of concepts and practices when working with groups in conflict. The book Unsettling Empathy has come into being during a period of increasing cultural pessimism, where we witness the spread of populism and the rise of illiberal democracies that hark back to nationalist and ethnocentric narratives of the past. Because of this changed landscape, this book makes an important contribution to seeking fresh pathways toward an ethical practice of living together in light of past agonies and current conflicts. Within the specific context of working with groups in conflict, this book urges for an (ethical) posture of unsettling empathy. Empathy, which plays a vital role in these processes, is a complex and complicated phenomenon that is not without its critics who occasionally alert us to its dark side. The term empathy needs a qualifier to distinguish it from related phenomena such as pity, compassion, sympathy, benign paternalism, idealized identification, or voyeuristic appropriation. The word “unsettling” is just this crucial ingredient without which I would hesitate to bring empathy into our conversation.
Empathy dissolves the boundaries between self and others, and feelings of altruism towards others are activated. This process results in more compassionate and caring contexts, as well as helping others in times of suffering. This book provides evidence from neuroscience and quantum physics that it is empathy that connects humanity, and that this awareness can create a more just society. It extends interest in values-based management, exploring the intellectual, physical, ecological, spiritual and aesthetic well-being of organizations and society rather than the more common management principles of maximising profit and efficiency. This book challenges the existing paradigm of capitalism by providing scientific evidence and empirical data that empathy is the most important organizing mechanism. The book is unique in that it provides a comprehensive review of the transformational qualities of empathy in personal, organizational and local contexts. Integrating an understanding based upon scientific studies of why the fields of positive psychology and organizational scholarship are important, it examines the evidence from neuroscience and presents leading-edge studies from quantum physics with implications for the organizational field. Together the chapters in this book attempt to demonstrate how empathy helps in the reduction of human suffering and the creation of a more just society.
This volume contains twelve original papers about the importance of empathy and sympathy to morality, with perspectives from philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, anthropology, and neuroscience.
