Buddha's Vittles

Question for Patient, Physician and Society

Q: Write about the challenges you face—as well as factors that help you—in maintaining empathy while practicing medicine. Give examples of patients or circumstances where you have found it particularly easy or difficult to maintain empathy.

A: When thinking about empathy, I decided to look it up in the dictionary just so I knew exactly what I was talking about. I don’t like thinking I know what I’m talking about, when in fact I don’t know what I’m talking about; you know? So I looked it up hoping that I would find some more information on empathy that might crystallize the question for me.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
em·pa·thy (em-puh-thee) n.

1. the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

American Heritage Dictionary
em·pa·thy (ěm'pə-thē) n.

1. Identification with and understanding of another's situation, feelings, and motives. See Synonyms at pity.
   
2. The attribution of one's own feelings to an object.

Jackpot. I often put a lot of feelings into objects. My stuffed animal collection, which sits proudly on my bed slightly over flowing onto the self next it, is filled with my own feelings or at least something like them. Mr. Pickles, a small furry frog with a precocious bow tie, is especially filled with feelings. Whenever we talk to each other I find myself having to watch my words. Almost anything I say will send him into tears. He's such an emotional frog. But I supposed I can understand why. He lost his matching female frog (dressed in a fetching pink tutu) in the freak washer/dryer accident of 2002. It’s that kind of tragedy that anyone can understand. I can imagine myself losing my soulmate would be crushing. I think that’s what it boils down to. I can empathize with Mr. Pickles because I can see where he’s coming from. I can put myself in his place and at least attempt to identify with his situation. But Mrs. Pokey Bear, she’s just a diva.