The role of empathy in Parkinson's

A new study, designed and conducted by Rosalba Morese, a researcher at the Institute of Communication and Public Policies (ICPP) of USI Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society, Michele Corengia, Director of the Research Centre in Medical Humanities at Fondazione Sasso Corbaro, and Alain Kaelin, Full Professor at USI Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and Medical and Scientific Director of Neurocentro della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, investigate the role of empathy and compassion in determining the quality of life of Parkinson's patients and their families.

The study was reported in "Azione", in an article written by science journalist Maria Grazia Buletti. Rosalba Morese, Michele Corengia and Alain Kaelin underline how Parkinson's disease has an impact on the emotional dimension of patients: "Parkinson's is best known for causing movement disorders, such as tremors, rigidity, and an unsteady gait. However, it is essential to note that the disease also affects the autonomic nervous system, which can lead to alterations in emotional processing. These aspects are still not widely understood but have significant relational impacts on patients, as well as on their family members and caregivers".

Based on these assumptions, USI, Fondazione Sasso Corbaro and Istituto di Neuroscienze Cliniche della Svizzera Italiana have launched a project that aims to investigate how the quality of life of Parkinson's patients, their family members and caregivers is affected by empathy, which the USI lecturer defines as "a process we activate when we understand and feel thoughts and emotions about ourselves and other people".

As explained by Rosalba Morese, the premise for the study stems from some considerations taken from the scientific literature: "The scientific literature indicates that Parkinson's patients tend to score low on questionnaires assessing their level of empathy. This exploratory study, suggested by Professor Alain Kaelin, the director of the Neurocentro della Svizzera italiana, aims to provide insights on how to train patients and their relatives or caregivers in empathy and compassion. The goal is to enhance their quality of life by improving their ability to recognise and identify emotions, as well as to distinguish their own feelings from those of others. Achieving patient adherence and collaboration in the study is certainly challenging, but it is made easier by the dedication of the Neurocentro della Svizzera italiana and its patients."

As Michele Corengia pointed out, empathy goes hand in hand with compassion: "Empathy in the context of suffering involves two key components: the cognitive aspect, which is the recognition of suffering, and the emotional aspect, which connects one's own experiences of suffering to those of another. This connection allows individuals to both feel and understand the suffering of others. Empathy related to suffering aligns with the first two stages of compassion. The term 'compassion' originates from the Latin words'cum' (meaning together) and 'patior' (meaning to suffer). This etymology suggests a broader and more noble interpretation of compassion as 'participation in the suffering of another'. It goes beyond the conventional use of the term in Italian, which often means simply to feel pity for someone. Instead, it captures a deeper, more engaged understanding of another's suffering".

The expert added that this quality, which is necessary to feel, as well as to understand, how the other feels, can be trained: "Social neuroscience studies have shown that compassion is a trainable process, subdivided and composed of four phases: empathy constitutes the first two, followed by a motivational phase in which the will to act is stimulated (I feel that I want to do something to alleviate the suffering of the other person or myself), and finally by a behavioural phase in which one acts to alleviate the suffering of oneself or the other person".

The two experts explained how the research, which aims to understand how to improve the quality of life of the patients and those around them, will be carried out: "Over six weeks, we will assess levels of empathy and compassion by providing weekly training sessions. These sessions will include various techniques that patients and their families can independently practice at home using prepared materials. Our focus will be on enhancing empathy and compassion, recognising suffering, and reconnecting with it. At the end of the training, we will measure how these interventions have impacted the quality of life".

The complete interview with Rosalba Morese, Michele Corengia and Alain Kaelin is available at the following link. (Italian only).