Week 6: Empathetic Questioning

Question 1

What is the difference between empathy and sympathy?

Answer 1

Empathy is where the focus is on them whereas sympathy is where the focus is on you

Question 2

What are the 3 ingredients of empathy?

Answer 2

• affective empathy
• cognitive empathy
• behavioural empathy

Question 3

What benefits can empathy form in practice?

Answer 3

• less burnout and increased mental wellbeing of clinicians
• reduced errors
• improved patient outcome

Question 4

What features does empathy consist of?

Answer 4

• connection,
• clinical curiosity
• care
• another-orientated perspective
• self-other differentiation

Question 5

What is emotional validation?

Answer 5

The process of acknowledging and accepting someones emotions as valid and legitimate, regardless of whether they align with one’s perspective

Question 6

What are the different types of validation?

Answer 6

• reflective
• empathetic
• normalising
• confirmatory
• collaborative
• redefining
• non-verbal

Question 7

What are some barriers to empathy?

Answer 7

• time pressure
• a focus on clinical interventions
• perceived reluctance to be vulnerable
• human factors
  perceived lack of skill/ability