Why is it good to work on empathy?
As vets we #1 help animals and we help people in the doing of #1. Well that’s how many vets see it.
However, the reality of vet work is that the human is actually the main focus of the vet-client dynamic, helping the human is what we do – helping the animal is #2. We help humans honour and love the animal they have chosen (or if a cat it has chosen them 😉 ) to invest in for the wellbeing of themself and their family. The animal is a thing they choose to accompany them in life, the human has made the choice to feed, house and care for this selected animal and for the most part they do it to the best of their ability.
As vets we see a range of ‘the best of their ability’ in how people look after their animals, we see a huge diversity in the ways – physically, emotionally and financially that people use to show love and care for their animal. What we may or may not recognise is that along with the ability to care for their pets showing up as a huge range of styles and formats that people look after themselves, their kids and their families in the same range of ways – and likewise they are doing it to the best of their abilities (again for the most part).
Do they look after their pets in a way that you do? No, not often. Do they look after themselves in a way that you do? Sometimes…. Do you agree with how they look after their pets? Hmm sometimes. Is it easy to accept how some people look after their pets? No definitely not and at this time it is really hard not to judge someone for their differences and what you might perceive as a lack in their care. Is it frustrating and sad that sometimes our ability to serve a client and their pet to the level we would like to? Certainly, it is. Sometimes it totally sucks. However, is providing care and having the ability to pay for it the same thing? Do those who are more wealthy necessarily look after themselves, their pets and their loved ones better than others?
And what does this have to do with empathy? According to Psychology Today, empathy is “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” and plays an important role in our society’s ability to function, promoting a “sharing of experiences, needs, and desires between individuals.” Empathy is integral to how our neural networks are set up to interact with the neural networks of others in order to both perceive and understand their emotions and to differentiate them from our own, which makes it possible for humans to live with one another without constantly fighting or feeling “taken over by someone else”. So in the vet clinic setting we can understand the feelings of another person without being affected or taken over by the feelings of that person. Sounds handy when dealing with some of those harder cases hey?
Photo Source: https://www.psychalive.org/