Articles: empathy.
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Comparative Study
Empathy examined through the neural mechanisms involved in imagining how I feel versus how you feel pain.
Perspective-taking is a stepping stone to human empathy. When empathizing with another individual, one can imagine how the other perceives the situation and feels as a result. To what extent does imagining the other differs from imagining oneself in similar painful situations? In this functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment, participants were shown pictures of people with their hands or feet in painful or non-painful situations and instructed to imagine and rate the level of pain perceived from different perspectives. ⋯ These results show the similarities between Self- and Other-pain representation, but most interestingly they also highlight some distinctiveness between these two representations, which is a crucial aspect of human empathy. It may be what allows us to distinguish empathic responses to others versus our own personal distress. These findings are consistent with the view that empathy does not involve a complete Self-Other merging.
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J Vasc Interv Radiol · Dec 2005
Randomized Controlled TrialPain and anxiety during interventional radiologic procedures: effect of patients' state anxiety at baseline and modulation by nonpharmacologic analgesia adjuncts.
To assess how patients' underlying anxiety affects their experience of distress, use of resources, and responsiveness toward nonpharmacologic analgesia adjunct therapies during invasive procedures. ⋯ Patients' state anxiety level is a predictor of trends in procedural pain and anxiety, need for medication, and procedure duration. Low and high state anxiety groups profit from the use of nonpharmacologic analgesia adjuncts but those with high state anxiety levels have the most to gain.