Please read the short commentary by Rajvinder Samra in which she raises critical questions about the potential conflict between providing engaged and empathic patient-centered care, and combating burnout, particularly in the form of emotional fatigue. As you read, think about how it might be challenging to be empathically engaged and at the same time resilient against the emotional burdents that this might open up. Is it possible to be both empathic and resilient in this way? Do the concepts from previously modules (e.g. the difference between empathy and sympathy) offer a starting place for how to think about this dilemma?

This supplementary article both articulates the specific concept of self-compassion as a construct of self care, and has a nice section on distinguishing empathy and compassion in the context of self-care.

This supplementary article problematizes the construct of empathy (though really a particular definition of empathy that not all share). It makes important points about the prospects for intersubjectivity and the limits of the clinical encounter.