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The word “Empathy” originates from the Greek “en patheia”, which means “in feeling”, emotion or experience. It translates to the German word “Einfühlung” which means “feeling into”. It had been used in different contexts that didn’t relate to feelings or the current meaning we have for empathy. Credited with using this word for the first time was German philosopher of art, Robert Vischer (CE 1847-1933), whom used it to explain natural beauty and how are humans aware of natural beauty. Another German philosopher Theodor Lipps (CE 1851-1914) defined empathy in his aesthetic theory, as a feeling experience when projecting themselves into the life aesthetic objects have. Then, the meaning of empathy was later modified to account for when a person feels someone else’s experiences without truly having them.

Benefits of Empathy in Interpersonal and Professional Relationships

The act of empathy calls for one to think about or try to understand someone’s internal state. It can be guessed how someone is feeling according to vocal cues, facial expression and maybe prior knowledge of this person, as well as being able to recognize people who have the same mood as us. Empathy can influence relationships by fostering specific kinds of behavior that help maintain relationship health. Trying to imagine a social partner's perspective will tend to produce more constructive behaviors such as being more tolerant, considerate and patient. By adopting someone else’s point of view, may be more tolerant and considerate of this person. A series of studies gathered by the Encyclopedia of Human Relationships, found that it also helps us become even-tempered, less self-centered, and to be more supportive in times of stress.

The Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice explains how empathy has many benefits. In families, higher levels of empathy may lead to lower separation rates and improve parent-child relationships. In couples, there is lower levels of conflict. High levels of empathy are associated with positive outcomes such as greater life satisfaction, better relationships, and increased opportunities for social and financial success.

Professional Fields: Nursing

There are many jobs where people can create close relationships with customers and clients, where being empathic is necessary. Nursing is one of them. Nurses must be able to understand a patient’s thoughts and feelings as their own to accurately present a positive and non-judgmental relationship. Many scholars in Nursing suggest that empathy is a necessary skill of care and that nurses need to ‘get in the skin’ of patients to truly appreciate their needs. Patients may be in incredible amounts of pain or feel fear, and in order to treat a person in a specific condition the nurse must be able to adapt to the patient’s needs. “Empathic nursing care has been shown to improve physiological and psychological outcomes for clients and is associated with higher levels of patient satisfaction.” In a situation where someone may be suffering because of a medical condition or disease, being able to feel what the person the nurse is caring for will help this person heal faster or feel more comfortable as the nurse can address this pain accordingly. Empathy is a key element for nurses to communicate and engage with their patients. Understanding the patient’s experience can help advance the development of strategies to support the patient. It does not only apply to nursing; the quality of health care is also impacted by the quality of the relationship between a physician and patient. The physician can develop a relationship of trust with the patient, which can lead to better care and treatment outcomes.

In another professional context, empathy helps colleagues to communicate more effectively increasing work performance among individuals and coworkers. Also, empathy may lead to better communication because workers may be able to understand others’ circumstances and adjust expectations accordingly.

Somatic refers to the body, specifically separated from the mind. Somatic empathy focuses on physical responses to a certain situation related to another person. (Source 1) The motor theory of empathy explains that facial expressions and simple hand motions are involved in recognizing emotion in others, and this plays a key role in the experience of empathy. Motor empathy is seen an automatic process resulting in emotional contagion, or the tendency to converge emotionally with others. According to the perception-action model of empathy observation of someone's emotional state leads to motor mimicry, and subsequently to an affective and cognitive empathic response. Somatic empathy can apply when, as an example, someone is suffering from physical pain. Let´s say you witness someone accidentally stab their toe with the furniture. If you have experienced this before, by seeing this happen, you may relive that painful moment and physically feel what you had felt, and what this someone is feeling, creating an empathetic connection. You would react by flinching, grasping something hard, and expressing pain through facial expressions.