The Physician-Patient Relationship and the Role of Empathy Training

Abstract

In social cognition, empathy is a major component, which implies the ability to understand others and put yourself in their place. In psychotherapy this is a concept that is often used in different academic and practical formations, but few studies have been able to carry out research aimed at knowing the individual differences and evaluating the importance and implication of empathy in therapeutic results. The objective of this research is to show studies about empathy capacity in health professionals: physicians and psychologists, through different physiological and cognitive studies and their relationship with the therapeutic bond. in turn, clinical vignettes are analyzed together with their relation with the concept developed in the review. Finally, previous studies are presented on interventions that can benefit and improve empathy capacity in health professionals, and there are implemented in different universities and health centers in the world.