The Role Of Lack Of Mental Health Illness - 2287 Words

The role of empathy in reducing mental health illness Business Name Institution Tutor The role of empathy in reducing mental health illness Abstract The study looks at the perspectives and reactions to mental health patients. A mental illness psychiatric disorder is an anomaly in the mental pattern. It is manifested by impairment in the person’s behavior causing him to perform abnormally in general life. It affects the way a person thinks, acts, or feels. The study assumes that the ability to empathize, which is crucial in mental health, lacks in many psychiatric conditions. Empathy is seriously shaped by neurodevelopment, psychiatric illness and brain pathology among other factors. It can be categorized as a state and†¦show more content†¦According to empathy-altruism hypothesis that was developed by C. Daniel Batson, it is postulated that individuals will help others if they feel empathy for them. Thus, relieving them from the suffering remains their core focus. Whenever individuals do not feel empathy, social exchange theory becomes the controlling factor. Daniel noticed that individuals normally assisted others out of selfish needs. The team developed an interest in establishing ways of distinguishing motives by the parties involved. Students were tasked with listening to tapes from radio programs. In one of the interviews, the interviewee talked about a grisly car accident that resulted into losing both limbs. She narrated about her tribulations and how it affected her studies. Students who listened to the interview were tasked with sharing lecture notes and meeting the interviewee. The experimenters modified the extent of empathy by telling one of the groups to focus on how she felt (high empathy level), and another group another group was not concerned with any of that (low empathy level). Experimenters additionally varied the impact of not helping. The low cost group indicated that the interviewee will finish at the bottom. The results acted as a confirmation of the empathy-altruism hypothesis. It was identified that the high emp athy group indicated they they would most likely help in such circumstsnces as compared to the low empathy group that helped out of self