Empathy will save us from loneliness, and perhaps even from pandemic: being able to put yourself in the shoes of others, to literally feel what they feel a quality that makes us human and that can prove to be a winning weapon againstisolation, as demonstrated by a study by the University of San Diego in California of seniors living in the US equivalent of our Assisted Health Residences. 85 percent of research participants reported feeling lonely, but the extent of the perceived loneliness it turned out to be very subjective even under the same conditions and social contacts: those who had had it felt more weight bereavement, those who did not have sufficient social skills and those who felt lacking in purpose in life, the ability to feel empathy was on the contrary protective from the bad thoughts associated with loneliness. The Senior citizens that when they felt alone they reacted by taking care of others, trying to do something for someone whose discomfort they perceived, they did not feel as uneasy as those who turned in on themselves because they were unable to understand the suffering of others: the key to overcoming loneliness would therefore be making an effort to pay attention to the needs of those close to us, whoever they are, because this trains and improves social skills and because connection with others is the exact opposite of loneliness.
How to foster compassion
This is also demonstrated by the experiences promoted by the Empatia Milano Foundation, which seeks to promote compassion and understanding of others thanks to projects such as the Human Libraries, in which each book is a person who tells his story on video (the last one, last January, was Migrant Pages in which people who arrived in Italy from afar were talking about themselves): in this way relationships are improved and one feels less alone, with side effects that could also prove invaluable in the fight against SARS-CoV-2. Stefan Pfattheicher, a psychologist at the Danish University of Aarhus, recently showed that empathy towards the most vulnerable people in the face of Covid-19 is an excellent spring to push to maintain physical distancing, follow the rules of prevention and wear the masks: We evaluated the empathic abilities of some volunteers and then we submitted questionnaires to verify their behavior during the pandemic. The linear correlation: the more you are able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, the more you respect the anti-contagion precautions, says the expert.
The mask test
The study also confirms that empathy can be learned: the researcher tested the ability to wear a mask and keep the distance of some volunteers after having them talk or not with a patient who had had substantial problems due to Covid. -19 and also in this case the net result. Knowing the story of a person who suffered from the coronavirus has increased the capacity for empathy and above all the willingness to follow the rules. Spreading the experiences of those who have been ill convinces citizens to do everything they can and must to reduce the circulation of the virus, concludes Pfattheicher.
April 30, 2021 (change April 30, 2021 | 17:54)
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