Why Kindness Heals.
As a physician specializing in neurosurgery at an
academic medical center, I appreciate the unhappiness many patients
have with the present healthcare delivery system that is rushed, bureaucratic,
non-caring and technology-focused. In the U.S. we spend more per capita than
any other industrialized country, yet the outcomes are some of the worst in the
world, with the highest levels of patient dissatisfaction.
What is the solution? Francis W.
Peabody, M.D. said in 1925 that, "the secret of the care
of the patient is caring for the patient." These words are even
more true today and are now backed by an ever enlarging body of science that
demonstrates that kindness, compassion and empathy have a profound effect on
healing. This new body of evidence spanning psychology, neuroscience, and even
economics reveals that as a species our default mode is not one of
self-centeredness but that we are wired to connect and when we connect our
physiology improves for the better. For example, a study that subjected volunteers to the
common cold virus on purpose as part of the experiment found that when those
volunteers rated the doctor who interacted with them as very kind, they were
less likely to develop a full-blown cold, their symptoms were less severe, and
the illness cleared up faster.
At the Center for Compassion
and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University,
of which I am the founder and director, we have created programs and workshops
whereby using science we promote the power of compassion and kindness to
improve one's health. At a recent workshop a participant who was going through
cancer treatment shared how her world-renowned physician delivered her cancer
diagnosis never looking her in the eye and explained her prognosis as a series
of statistics and walked out abruptly. While a difficult situation itself, the
physician compounded this by his less than empathetic manner that resulted in
further pain to the patient potentially negatively affecting her prognosis.
Stories such as this inspire our work at CCARE with clinicians to help them
understand the power of the clinician-patient relationships on their patients'
health and give them tools to positively affect this relationship.
For many people, simply
interacting with doctors and the healthcare systems provokes anxiety. In some
instances patients tolerate a physician's lack of empathy or sensitivity
believing that his or her technical expertise is more important while
oftentimes the interaction itself elicits unnecessary stress and anxiety. Researchhas
demonstrated that in such situations one's immune function and wound healing
capabilities can be negatively affected.
While some clinicians don't
appreciate this reality, research has demonstrated that when a physician or
nurse shows empathy for a patient -- listening, connecting, and validating them
-- the patient is more likely to recover faster across a wide variety of
medical conditions to even include surgery. One study has demonstrated that an empathetic
interaction with a physician can have as much of a positive impact on one's
risk of heart attack as taking an aspirin a day.
It is amazing what difference a
physician's attitude can have on a patient. A positive emotional state allows
one to more fully connect, decreases anxiety and leads to a faster recovery.
There is even evidence that when a patient listens to less
than a minute of compassionate communication from a physician they feel less
anxious. Researchers have mapped reduced anxiety and increased positive emotion
to biological and immunological responses in the body. The good news is that
kindness isn't just good for patients. Neuroscience shows that acting with
kindness toward others stimulates the reward circuits in our brains, so giving
and receiving kindness has a positive effect on physicians and nurses as well.
A recent study asked romantic partners to visit a
laboratory together. One partner was subjected to a painful requirement to hold
an arm in icy cold water until they couldn't stand it anymore. When the other
partner was kind and validating, the person with an arm in the painfully cold
water actually reported significantly less pain. We need to remember this
superpower of kindness to reduce pain. In fact, across many studies we see that
expressions of respect, acceptance, warmth, and open sharing of information
contribute to less pain from conditions such as fibromyalgia and arthritis, as
well as better health for those with chronic conditions such as high blood pressure,
diabetes, or asthma.
Why does kindness heal? Science
is opening a window into the many ways that we are connected and showing us
that how physicians interact with patients affects the patients' physiology.
Often in ways we may not immediately recognize, but that have real
consequences, patients who on top of their illness are treated unkindly or with
insensitivity are actually receiving a double hurt that can exacerbate the
initial condition for which they sought treatment. Hopefully sharing this new
science of kindness helps all of us--physicians and patients alike--to see in
new ways how and why kindness heals and even more importantly how being kind
results in one living a longer--and happier--life.
True healing requires more than
just medicine and treatment, which is why we've teamed up with Dignity Health to discuss how
compassion and a human touch can benefit our health and our lives in myriad
ways.
Do you have a
personal story about compassion or big acts of kindness that you'd like to
contribute? Let us know at PowerOfHumanity@huffingtonpost.com or by tweeting
with #PowerofHumanity.
Credit:James R. Doty, M.D. @GoodNews
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