Empathy vs sympathy

[Judyanne]

youtu.be/1Evwgu369Jw(Not working as expected?)

[hsouter]

That is a great animated short on the difference between empathy and sympathy..

It is so true that if we stay out of judgement and practice “being with” someone from a vulnerable place, healing comes not only to the person we are “being with” but ourselves as well...

Sympathy requires a sense of separation and judgement, whereas empathy requires connection and solidarity....

Thanks for sharing this!

[UK-Sparky]

Very good and so true Judyanne, one advantage of this forum is we share being touched by the same disease. Helps start empathy but often we do not know what to say to be there for a forum friend in distress. I propose that’s when we can give a virtual hug at least. 💑

UK Sparky

[hsouter in reply to UK-Sparky]

My experience is that acknowledging/bearing witness to someone’s distress is the starting place. So often we can actually do little else that will help.

If you or anyone else is interested, there is a short free course from John Hopkins through Coursera that teaches psychological first aid. (Being a paramedic, I have taken a number of different courses like this one to equip me to deal with extreme distress when I am confronted with it in the field.). It may not be a perfect match but it does give some important guidance in a number of areas.). Many in this group already have good skills but for those of us who are interested or less confident, consider checking it out....

coursera.org/learn/psycholo...

[BeckyLUSA]

Thanks for sharing. Great piece.

[UK-Sparky]

Excellent, will try course!

UK Sparky

[G1llHa1n]

Course sounds good - they may get another student - if they take UK people.