WHY EMPATHY IS BREAKING HEALTHCARE: THE NEUROSCIENCE OF COMPASSION

Dr Heidi Matisonn, senior lecturer and researcher, Neuroscience Institute and the Ethics Lab, University of Cape Town; honorary research associate, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Monday 26 January 9.15 am COURSE FEES R115; Staff and Students R58

This lecture is part of the Neuroscience Institute’s Hot Topics in Neuroscience series.

‘Climb into someone’s skin and walk around in it.’ This iconic call to empathy from To Kill a Mockingbird has long inspired healthcare professionals to connect deeply with patients. But in today’s strained clinical environments, is empathy still serving us – or is it part of the problem?

This provocative lecture challenges the assumption that empathy is always beneficial in healthcare. Drawing on a real-life story of a burnt-out HIV clinician and a striking question from a medical student – ‘Is not caring always a bad thing?’ – the lecture explores how excessive emotional identification with patients may actually contribute to moral suffering, burnout and compromised care. Using insights from neuroscience, including the work of Tania Singer and Olga Klimecki, we will distinguish between empathy – the sharing of another’s pain – and compassion, a pro-social, action-oriented response grounded in warmth and care. While empathy can trigger distress and feelings of being overwhelmed, compassion offers a more resilient, sustainable foundation for healthcare work. In high-stakes, resource-constrained settings like South Africa, where clinicians are already under extraordinary pressure, asking them to ‘walk in their patients’ shoes’ may do more harm than good. Instead, we need a model of care that walks with patients – side by side through systems that demand both courage and connection. The lecture invites participants to rethink the emotional demands of care and consider a more sustainable path forward, one rooted not in emotional over-identification, but in the steady, grounded practice of compassion.

 

Recommended reading

Bloom, P. 2016. Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion. New York: Vintage Publishers.

Mihalache, AS and LeoZagrean, L. Compassion vs. empathy: Necessary distinctions in approaching medical care, Romanian Medical Journal, 68(3), pp. 354–367. https://rmj.com.ro/articles/2021.3/RMJ_2021_3_Art-05.pdf

Ricard, M, Lutz, A and Davidson, RJ. Neuroscience Reveals the Secrets of Meditation’s Benefits: Contemplative Practices that Extend Back Thousands of Years Show a Multitude of Benefits for Both Body and Mind, Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/neuroscience-reveals-the- secrets-of-meditation-s-benefits/

Singer, T and Klimecki, OM. 2014. Empathy and Compassion, Current Biology, 24(18), pp. 875–878. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982214007702

 

Health professionals can earn CPD points for this lecture.

TO BOOK: https://www.webtickets.co.za/performance.aspx?itemid=1575447689