“We are capable of sensing that which another is feeling, but only if we engage with them and make eye contact. And thus, if we only listen to our patients’ concerns and complaints, we miss messages that could be invaluable in treating the patient.”
screens for images and tests, and scrolling through notes, we miss out on a very important aspect of human relationships or healing; we eliminate what scientists call neuron mirroring. Neuroscientist Giacomo Rizzolatti, MD, with his colleagues at the University of Parma, were the first to discover neuron mirroring in the early 1990s.15,16 In this experiment, animals were attached to monitoring equipment, allowing scientists to examine which neurons fired and when. During the course of the experiment, a scientist near one of the monkeys reached for a sandwich. Though the animal had not moved even a fraction of an inch, the computer recognized brain function within the animal. The same neurons fired within the monkey’s brain that would have fired had the monkey actually reached for the sandwich himself. Other studies have come to solidify this concept. For example, in a study of participants watching videos of subjects putting their hands in ice buckets, scientists found that the participants experienced a reduction in their own hand temperatures.17 We are capable of sensing that which another is feeling, but only if we engage with them and make eye contact. And thus, if we only listen to our patients’ concerns and complaints without looking at them, we miss messages that could be invaluable in treating the patient.
How Compassion Can Help the Practitioner
reserved for humans.13 Rats cohabiting following two weeks of daily interaction were separated, with one of them being placed in a plexiglass cage. Within a week of the disunion, the freed rat learned to open the glass cage, via door, and free the caged mate. The free rat uncaged its companion regardless of reward. Furthermore, when given the choice between freeing a tasty treat or its rat companion, the free rat indiscriminately opened both doors. This study demonstrated that prosocial behavior is a phenomenon that may be present among many living beings. And, as such, it may be innate rather than learned. If we know that empathy and compassion are part of our evolutionary development, perhaps utilizing it in our daily lives and to the advantage of our patients will come easier than previously thought. A 2012 Journal of the American Medical Association article described a child’s drawing of a doctor seated in front of a laptop while examining a patient, with no stethoscope or tongue depressor in sight.14 Unlike the drawings we saw years ago, this one showed the physician typing on a computer, looking away from a patient, a common occurrence today during our medical evaluations. This drawing also brought front and center the new reality that, as providers of any kind, we listen more to patients and look at them less. While we are multitasking, checking different
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AGD IMPACT
OCTOBER 2024
Now, the age-old question, a driving force for creating change: “What’s in it for me?” Burnout among healthcare professionals is very real.18 According to the latest literature, 80% of oral care providers are suffering.19 Burnout presents a hardship that can lead to job desertion, reducing the overall presence of healthcare providers in the field. We have seen and experienced that in dentistry after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, creating deep relationships with patients, though many of us were taught the opposite, can actually be healing not just for the patient, but also for the practitioner. That’s what is in it for you. Many call it “helper’s high.” This concept first emerged in the 1980s and has been validated by numerous studies over the years, including some recent ones in 2021.20 Surveys have shown that more than 70% of people experience a helper’s high when giving meaningful aid to those in need.21 Seth Gillihan, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, says, “Coming together (in compassion) works a sort of alchemy, transforming one person’s pain into a shared feeling of uplift.” 22 Giving meaningful help to others activates reward pathways in the brain, producing a profound sense of positive affect and a myriad of uplifting emotions.23 One mechanism at play activates the parasympathetic nervous system by stimulating vagus nerve activity. This activation essentially produces a calming effect that counterbalances the fight-or-flight response governed by the sympathetic