title: Empathy in high-tech and high-touch medicine.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Surgeons and psychiatrists have been described as two contrary groups, the one healing by hands and the other by words. Empathy is needed in every physician-patient relationship. We tested whether (1) surgeons and psychiatrists show different levels of cognitive and emotional empathy; (2) measurements of cognitive and emotional empathy correlate with physician-specific empathy; and (3) gender, experience, and career choices are influencing factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  56 surgeons and 50 psychiatrists participated. We measured empathy with the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE), cognitive empathy with the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test Revised (RME-R6), and emotional empathy with the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Male psychiatrists scored significantly higher than that of male surgeons (118.0±9.86 vs. 107.5±13.84; p=0.0006) in the JSPE. Analytically trained psychiatrists scored significantly higher in the JSPE than that of behaviorally trained psychiatrists (p=0.024, F test, adjusted for gender). Both the RME and the BEES correlated positively with the JSPE.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Higher scores for empathy were found in male psychiatrists than in male surgeons.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Further research is needed to learn about the effects of general medical training on empathy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dehning
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Reiß
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany. Electronic address: Daniela.Krause@med.uni-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Krause
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gasperi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dargel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siebeck
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D004644:Emotions; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D005791:Patient Care / Q000523:psychology*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012737:Sex Factors; D066231:Surgeons / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Cognitive empathy; Emotional empathy; Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy; Psychiatrist; Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test Revised; Surgeon