Empathy is a fashionable topic, but the discussion surrounding it is often a bit touchy-feely, short on rigor. In contrast, I recently came across this excellent TEDx talk by Helen Riess delivered at Middlebury a bit over a year ago. It’s 17 minutes are worth watching in several respects–thoughtful, understated, and substantive.
Helen is local, based at MGH, so I gave her a call and she told me about some of her activities. With the encouragement of her hospital, she’s started a firm called Empathetics, which is conducting training for clinicians based on her research.
You see, empathy isn’t just about feeling warmth and connection: The emotional connection also has roots in neurobiology and physiology.
