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The Sociophysiology Of Caring In The Doctor-Patient Relationship, Herbert M. Adler
The Sociophysiology Of Caring In The Doctor-Patient Relationship, Herbert M. Adler
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Faculty Papers
The emotional investment required to construct a caring doctor-patient relationship can be justified on humane grounds. Can it also be justified as a direct physiologic intervention? Two lines of evidence point in this direction. People in an empathic relationship exhibit a correlation of indicators of autonomic activity. This occurs between speakers and responsive listeners, members of a coherent group, and bonded pairs of higher social animals. Furthermore, the experience of feeling cared about in a relationship reduces the secretion of stress hormones and shifts the neuroendocrine system toward homeostasis. Because the social engagement of emotions is simultaneously the social engagement …