THE PATIENT-PHYSICIAN RELATIONSHIP Clinical Empathy as Emotional Labor in the Patient-Physician Relationship

INTEREST IN THE RELATIONSHIP BEtween physicians and patients is as old as the practice of medicine. Over the past 20 years, scholarly interest has increased as educators and practicing professionals have realized that a therapeutic relationship, along with integration of knowledge and skills, content of care, information management, teamwork, and health systems is an integral part of healing and effective medical care. The context effect, better known as the placebo effect, addresses in greatest detail the impact of the patient-physician relationship on a patient’s recovery. The published literature suggests that physicians who display a warm, friendly, and reassuring manner with their patients are more effective. In addition, Halpern wrote that empathy (1) makes patients more forthcoming about their symptoms and concerns, thus, facilitating medical information gathering, which, in turn, yields more accurate diagnosis and better care; (2) helps patients regain autonomy and participate in their therapy by increasing their self-efficacy; and (3) leads to therapeutic interactions that directly affect patient recovery. In sum, “making connexions” and developing empathy are fundamental to caring and enhance the therapeutic potential of patientclinician relationships. Given the need for empathy as part of effective treatment, physicians have to learn to empathize with their patients. To cultivate an acute ability to empathize with others, one needs patience, curiosity, and willingness to subject one’s mind to the patient’s world. However, there are many obstacles that contemporary physicians face as they aspire to develop empathy. These include a demanding work environment with heavy workloads, little importance attached to empathy, and cynicism. In addition, research indicates insufficient training and education in compassion and emotional aspects of health care for various health professionals. We believe that better understanding of empathy—and more importantly, framing the psychological and behavioral activities in this process as acting methods used in emo-