Wired for Empathy
Pain routinely turns a sufferer inward, to the body that's crying out for help. But because the inside world is invisible, it's difficult to communicate how one feels to other people. Nor is it much easier for observers of pain, doctors and caregivers. The pain is equally invisible and difficult to imagine for them in their pain-free state.
We are wired to connect, writes Daniel Goleman, in his recent book, Social Intelligence.
Regardless of the inherent difficulties in communicating pain, we can't help but feel this way.
An observer of pain cannot easily see pain and remain untouched. Because of mirror neurons and perhaps other cells and circuits in our brains, we are wired to empathize with those who suffer.
And yet if we are so wired, how is it possible that so much suffering goes ignored, exacerbated, or even worse, provoked.
Is part of the tendency to look away from pain self-protective - if seeing pain puts us into a painful state, then looking away or pretending it doesn't exist might be a way of relieving it?
The discovery of mirror neurons generates as many questions as it provides answers. But the fact is those neurons are likely present in all of us. So if we acknowledge that, along with the fact that our restless minds tend to race ahead, perhaps we can make a conscious effort to pull back the reins, force ourselves to return to the suffering at hand, and thereby re-inforce our instinctual, empathetic responses.
David Biro, M.D., Ph.D.
Psychology Today
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