Empathy

The problem of caring too much: “If you empathize with all your patients, do you risk bearing too much of a burden? Does it lead to burnout? Is that “professional distance” necessary for one’s own survival — forget about the patients.’ As I see it, that is in fact the higher concern. Paradoxically, empathy needs pairing with the ability to compartmentalize, to relate one-on-one and leave it behind when you walk away. As if that’s actually possible.”