Compassion and its role in the clinical encounter – An argument for compassion training

Empathic communication, (i.e. emotionally engaging with a patient), is an important part of the therapeutic relationship. It has been shown to improve the health and therapeutic outcomes for patients by improving diagnosis and compliance. In the West, front-line medical professionals, including herbal medicine practitioners, put themselves at risk of burnout and compassion fatigue by giving emotionally intensive care. While treatments for compassion fatigue and burnout are available, another way forward is needed to ensure healthcare professionals do not become ill; one that will enable both patients and healthcare professionals to receive the care needed. In this paper it is argued that compassion, which is defined in this paper, involves different neural circuitry to empathy and can protect healthcare professionals from the effects of stress that can, if not addressed, lead to burnout. Traditional Buddhist meditation techniques such as loving-kindness meditation have been shown to increase compassion in non-meditative states. Short daily sessions of such mediation practices have been shown to improve compassion in a way that protects healthcare professionals from burnout.