What Is the Difference Between Empathy and Compassion?

There’s a lot of confusion between empathy and compassion. So I set asked an expert, Dr. Steven Trzeciak, the Chief of Medicine at Cooper University Health Care and author of Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence That Caring Makes a Difference. 

When I interviewed Steve for my podcast, I asked him to explain the difference between empathy and compassion. He answered with this quote from his co-author, Anthony Marrazzelli.

You can have empathy though a one-way mirror, but you can’t have compassion.

Compassion vs. Empathy

So what is the difference between empathy and compassion?

Empathy is feeling the emotional pain of another person.

Compassion requires taking action on those feelings.

Our brains know the difference. FMRI brain scans show that when people experience empathy, the pain centers of the brain are active. When people engage in compassionate acts, the reward centers of the brain light up. Compassion feels good and is energizing.

Next Element’s Compassion Cycle shows how the pieces fit together.

The first Compassion Skill is Openness, and involves creating a safe emotional connection with another person – the heart. Empathy is just one of three strategies for practicing openness. Other strategies include validating another person’s feelings and disclosing your own feelings.

Resourcefulness is headwork and involves problem-solving for how best to help. We teach three strategies for being resourceful, all focused on affirming the capability of both parties.

Persistence is where the action takes place. This is where we follow through on the actions of compassion. Persistence also includes three strategies, each plays a role in reinforcing mutual responsibility.

As you can see, compassion is so much more than empathy.

Compassion fatigue is a misnomer. Empathy fatigue is more accurate. Dr. Trzeciak also explained that one of the best interventions for physician burnout is leaning into the patient experience with compassion. Instead of being a drain, compassion builds physician resilience and resistance to burnout, while also influencing a host of positive patient outcomes.

So, what is the difference between compassion and empathy? Full compassion requires the heart, the head, and the hands. Empathy is one-ninth of the process.

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