Empathy:
- understanding and entering into another's feelings
- literally translates as in feeling, is the capability to share another being's emotions and feelings
- the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present
Sympathy:
- the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another
- feeling sorry towards another
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In nursing school we are taught the difference between empathy and sympathy. We are encouraged towards empathy where our patients are concerned, because you don't just want to feel sorry for what they are going through; to be effective in your care you need to place yourself into the other persons shoes and try and "feel" what they are experiencing in order to understand their needs.
Since I was diagnosed with cancer in May, I've come to realize that it is impossible to be empathetic with someone who has cancer. Yes, you can feel sympathy towards them for what they are going through, but until you yourself hear your name in the same sentence as the word "CANCER", you cannot empathize with that person. Being diagnosed with cancer is truly a unique experience and until you have gone through it yourself, you can't even begin to imagine the thoughts, feelings and anxiety that the other person is experiencing, no matter how much you want to or try to.
Unfortunately it took me getting cancer to truly understand that. The silver lining of my experience is that it will make me a better nurse when working with cancer patients, because I really can relate first hand to what they are going through; from the shock to the uncertainty.
I don't wish cancer on anyone, but musings over all of these weeks have caused me to do some deep thinking about all kinds of stuff and sympathy vs empathy was one of these things, so I thought I'd share.
- understanding and entering into another's feelings
- literally translates as in feeling, is the capability to share another being's emotions and feelings
- the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present
Sympathy:
- the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another
- feeling sorry towards another
*****************************************
In nursing school we are taught the difference between empathy and sympathy. We are encouraged towards empathy where our patients are concerned, because you don't just want to feel sorry for what they are going through; to be effective in your care you need to place yourself into the other persons shoes and try and "feel" what they are experiencing in order to understand their needs.
Since I was diagnosed with cancer in May, I've come to realize that it is impossible to be empathetic with someone who has cancer. Yes, you can feel sympathy towards them for what they are going through, but until you yourself hear your name in the same sentence as the word "CANCER", you cannot empathize with that person. Being diagnosed with cancer is truly a unique experience and until you have gone through it yourself, you can't even begin to imagine the thoughts, feelings and anxiety that the other person is experiencing, no matter how much you want to or try to.
Unfortunately it took me getting cancer to truly understand that. The silver lining of my experience is that it will make me a better nurse when working with cancer patients, because I really can relate first hand to what they are going through; from the shock to the uncertainty.
I don't wish cancer on anyone, but musings over all of these weeks have caused me to do some deep thinking about all kinds of stuff and sympathy vs empathy was one of these things, so I thought I'd share.
