Issidoros Sarinopoulos (Sid) is Assistant Professor of
Psychology at
Michigan State University where he is director of the Lab for Social and
Affective Neuroscience. Sid's research interests include the psychological
and neural underpinnings of emotion, judgment, decision making, and social
behavior.
His work integrates the theories and methods of
affective and social neuroscience on the one hand, and more traditional
disciplines in the social sciences on the other.
Sid was part of a study looking at how an empathic
doctor-patient relationship reduces patients pain.
Listen up, doc: Empathy raises patients’ pain tolerance.
"A doctor-patient relationship built on trust and empathy
doesn’t just put patients at ease – it actually changes the brain’s
response to stress and increases pain tolerance, according to new findings
from a Michigan State University research team... This is the first study
that has looked at the patient-centered relationship from a
neurobiological point of view,” said Sarinopoulos, the lead researcher.
“It’s important for doctors and others who advocate this type of
relationship with the patient to show that there is a biological basis.”
Sub Conferences: Health Care
and Science
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Dec. 3, 2012
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Listen up, doc: Empathy raises patients’ pain tolerance
"A doctor-patient relationship built on trust and
empathy doesn’t just put patients at ease – it actually changes the
brain’s response to stress and increases pain tolerance, according to
new findings from an MSU research team.
“We need to do more research to understand this
mechanism,” he said, “but this is a good first step that puts some
scientific weight behind the case for empathizing with patients, getting
to know them and building trust.”
Published in the journal Patient Education and
Counseling, the study was part of a broader effort at MSU, led by
professor of medicine Robert Smith, to establish standards for
patient-centered health care and measure its effectiveness."
Doctor’s empathy increases patient’s pain tolerance
"Empathy, or the ability to understand and share the feelings or another
individual, may improve pain management in patients, changing the
brain’s response to stress. According to a new study from Michigan State
University, doctor’s empathy tend to lead to better patient outcomes,
though the exact mechanism for the altered patient brain response is
still unknown."
Doc's Empathy Eases Pain
"Previous research has shown that doctors who listen carefully have
happier patients with better health outcomes, but the underlying
mechanism was unknown. A release from the university quotes investigator
Issidoros Sarinopoulos as saying, “This is the first study that has
looked at the patient-centered relationship from a neurobiological point
of view. It’s important for doctors and others who advocate this type of
relationship with the patient to show that there is a biological
basis.”"
The New Painkiller? An Empathetic Doctor
"Doctors who take the time to listen and understand what their patients
are going through could actually have a positive effect on their
patients' pain tolerance and stress levels, according to a small new
study.
The Michigan State University research showed that doctor-patient
empathy is linked with decreased activity of the anterior insula region
of the brain -- the region responsible for pain awareness..."But this is
a good first step that puts some scientific weight behind the case for
empathizing with patients, getting to know them and building trust.""
