However, recognizing the benefits of empathetic listening does little if you don’t have a solid understanding of what it is and what it actually involves in practice. In this post, I will walk you through a definition of empathetic listening, explain what it looks like, and reinforce why it matters so much in the world of medicine.
Empathy and Active Listening
In the most basic sense, empathetic listening is a skill that combines two key concepts: empathy and active listening. At its core, empathy is the ability to understand where someone is coming from by putting yourself in their shoes. It relies on specific parts of the brain to enable emotional connections with others and the motivation to care. While we should aim for this emotional resonance, we sometimes push the emotional part of empathy away when we don’t know what to do with it. We sometimes assume that we don’t have time to deal with it–yet doing so works against our compassionate instincts.
On the other hand, active listening is the ability to focus completely on someone who is speaking to you, understand their message, comprehend the information they are sharing, and then respond thoughtfully. It’s possible to listen without employing any empathy, however, it is when you apply both empathy and active listening together that you start establishing a trusting relationship with those you are interacting with.
What Empathetic Listening Looks Like
So what does listening actively and empathetically look like in practice? It requires three different and distinct dimensions: cognitive, emotional, and behavioral.
The cognitive element of empathetic listening means being able to comprehend how the person you are speaking with feels. As a physician, it is likely that you will interact with patients who might be scared, nervous, or even apprehensive about meeting with you. Recognizing and understanding how your patients feel can make all the difference in influencing and informing your interactions with them moving forward.
Next, empathetic listening also involves an emotional dimension. This aspect has to do with relating to your patients’ inner feelings, experiences, and perspectives. If you can identify how your patients are feeling and try to see things through their eyes, you will be able to relate to and sympathize with what they’re experiencing even more.
Finally, the last dimension is a behavioral one–it has to do with communicating back to your patients. The “active” part of active listening necessitates some sort of reaction on the part of the listener. As a physician, this means being able to take the cognitive and emotional insights you have gleaned from your patients and use them to inform a thoughtful response.
Overall, empathetic listening is a particular mindset and set of skills that involves comprehending how your patients feel, relating to their inner perspectives, and communicating back to them that you understand.
Final Thoughts: Why Empathetic Listening Matters in the Healthcare
While not an overwhelmingly complicated concept, empathetic listening is a skill that is often misunderstood or even disregarded in the healthcare. However, empathetic listening is necessary for establishing trust and fostering healthy relationships with your patients. This trust then allows you to better care for your patients and even improve their health outcomes. To learn more about the specific benefits of listening empathetically, you can visit [>>blog post link].
