Communication, Empathy, and Compassion

2021 ◽  
pp. 91-116
Author(s):  
Gia Merlo
Keyword(s):  
Effective Communication ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
Active Listening ◽  
Adherence To Treatment ◽  
Improved Outcomes ◽  
Broad Concept ◽  
Treatment Plans ◽  
Neurological Processes ◽  
Excellent Care ◽  
The Brain

The state of modern healthcare is often not conducive to empathy or effective communication because physicians are pressured to see as many patients as they possibly can, sometimes forcing them to forsake emotional connection. However, empathy and communication are among the most vital skills for providing excellent care to patients. Incorporation of empathy and communication have been found to result in fewer malpractice suits, better adherence to treatment plans, fewer errors, and improved outcomes. The components of effective communication include active listening, offering feedback, and being able to apologize for past errors or miscommunication. The challenges associated with patients that are labelled “difficult” are discussed. The neurological processes of empathy are highlighted including the regions of the brain that are implicated. The chapter also frames empathy as a broad concept with emotive, moral, cognitive, and behavioral components, and that compassion is an empathic response that may facilitate feelings of engagement and protect against burnout. Increasingly, medical schools are incorporating training in building empathy and compassion into their curricula.

Intracranial Tumors- Overview, Histological Types, Symptoms and Treatment Plans

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 133-144
Author(s):  
Dipak Chaulagain ◽  
Volodymyr Smolanka ◽  
Andriy Smolanka
Keyword(s):  
Brain Tumor ◽  
Brain Tumors ◽  
Marital Status ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Intracranial Tumors ◽  
Regional Center ◽  
East And Southeast Asia ◽  
Abnormal Cells ◽  
Treatment Plans ◽  
The Brain

People, in general, are affected by a brain or intracranial tumor when abnormal cells started functioning within their brain. This paper explores mainly tumors that affect the brain. Almost every type of brain tumor might create symptoms which are based on the parts of the brain affected. In order to better understand reasons of occurrence intracranial tumors in various sections of the population, the study examined the relationship between sociodemographic variables, i.e., age, gender and marital status and the relative frequency of intracranial tumors as part of a study. Samples are collected based on the information from Uzhhorod Regional Center of Neurosurgery and Neurology in Ukraine. And factors such as age, gender and marital status has been considered to examine tumor size variation. The ratios of organ cancers in Ukrainians are evidently increasing. Besides, there has been growing trend in affected rates in both the genders of CNS cancers have been noticed in all the records. The ratio of most harmful brain tumors is comparatively in minimal ratio in East and Southeast Asia, and India. On the other hand, the highest ratio has been noted in European countries and as well United States, and Ukraine is one of those countries. The major burdens of cancer frequency in Ukraine have been noticed in the lung, breast, and prostate and brain. Of these, brain tumor rate in Ukraine had been hardly studied. The major difference in frequency in Asian and European populations implies the potential influence of genetic or environmental factors in malignant brain tumors. Continuing monitoring of tumor ratio in Ukraine is essential to comprehend how best to reduce cancer burden globally and to explain the causes of provincial variations, for example access to diagnosis methods and ecological exposures. Key words: Intracranial tumors, symptoms, tumor incidence in Ukraine, treatment plans, survival rate of cancer in Ukraine.

Reflections on Integration by a Biopsychologist

1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 292-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherwood O. Cole
Keyword(s):  
World View ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Clinical Integration ◽  
Neurological Processes ◽  
Heterosexual Sex ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Biological Reductionism

From the vantage point of an outsider, it has been observed that most attempts at clinical integration focus on psychological and theological issues while avoiding considerations of biological influences. Two examples (homosexuality and heterosexual sex offenses) are given as a demonstration of how the inclusion of biological considerations improve the quality of integrative activity. While not having a natural affinity for biological explanations, clinical colleagues are, nevertheless, challenged to expand their view of integration to include biological dimensions. Further suggested guidelines for including biological interests in integration include (a) the human brain and mind constitute an example par excellence of God's creative purpose in human life; (b) God has chosen the physical processes of the brain/mind as a vehicle for expressing Christian experiences; and (c) problems having their source in the spiritual realm can influence neurological processes just as much as can psychological factors. Cautionary notes are offered regarding the dangers of biological reductionism and determinism to the process of integration. Finally, it is concluded that this perspective on integration is based upon a Christian world view and that all data-base sources must undergo the same degree of critical examination.

At work Active Listening: A Key to Effective Communication

1993 ◽  
Vol 33 (9) ◽  
pp. 43-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quentin M. Srnka ◽  
Michael R. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Effective Communication ◽  
Active Listening

Lighting up the Mind: Evolving a Model of Consciousness and its Application to Improvisation in Music Therapy

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Usher ◽  
Susan Greenfield
Keyword(s):  
Music Therapy ◽  
Learning Difficulties ◽  
Primary Language ◽  
Communicative Responses ◽  
Residential Unit ◽  
Neurological Processes ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Neuronal Assembly ◽  
The Brain

This paper explores Professor Susan Greenfield's theory of Neuronal Assembly Formation (Neuronal Gestalts) within a clinical music therapy context. Neuronal events in the brain are seen not only as shaping the physiological and communicative responses of the client, but also contributing to the character of the musical material itself, as it evolves in improvisation. This paper describes work with adults with profound learning difficulties living in a long-term residential unit. For these non-verbal clients, music becomes a primary language for translating and exchanging feelings and meanings. Greenfield's Concentric Theory offers new ways of analysing and characterising the somatic and neurological processes of stimulation and arousal underlying this process in each individual. Some current theories of consciousness are compared, and the evidence for possible links between the formation of neuronal assemblies and the development of musical gestalts is investigated through a series of case studies.

scholarly journals The Cartesian Folk Theater: People conceptualize consciousness as a spatio-temporally localized process in the human brain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Forstmann ◽  
Pascal Burgmer
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Computational Analysis ◽  
Conscious Experience ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Total N ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Neurological Processes ◽  
Folk Conception ◽  
Temporal Localization ◽  
The Brain

The present research (total N = 2,057) tested whether people’s folk conception of consciousness aligns with the notion of a “Cartesian Theater” (Dennett, 1991). More precisely, we tested the hypotheses that people believe that consciousness happens in a single, confined area (vs. multiple dispersed areas) in the human brain, and that it (partly) happens after the brain finished analyzing all available information. Further, we investigated how these beliefs are related to participants’ neuroscientific knowledge as well as their reliance on intuition, and which rationale they use to explain their responses. Using a computer-administered drawing task, we found that participants located consciousness, but not unrelated neurological processes (Studies 1a & 1b) or unconscious thinking (Study 2) in a single, confined area in the prefrontal cortex, and that they considered most of the brain not involved in consciousness. Participants mostly relied on their intuitions when responding, and they were not affected by prior knowledge about the brain. Additionally, they considered the conscious experience of sensory stimuli to happen in a spatially more confined area than the corresponding computational analysis of these stimuli (Study 3). Furthermore, participants’ explicit beliefs about spatial and temporal localization of consciousness (i.e., consciousness happening after the computational analysis of sensory information is completed) are independent, yet positively correlated beliefs (Study 4). Using a more elaborate measure for temporal localization of conscious experience, our final study confirmed that people believe consciousness to partly happen even after information processing is done (Study 5).

Abstract 312: Transcriptional and Posttranscriptional Circuitry in the Brain After Transient and Permanent Ischemia

2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatiha Tabet ◽  
Sandy Lee ◽  
Luisa F Cuesta Torres ◽  
Michael G Levin ◽  
Grant R Drummond ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Validation Studies ◽  
Regulatory Networks ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Sham Procedure ◽  
Gene Regulatory ◽  
Neurological Processes ◽  
The Brain

Background: Stroke is a major neurovascular disease and a leading cause of mortality and long-term disability. Within cells of the brain, short non-encoding microRNAs (miRNAs) serve to modulate gene expression and likely contribute to most, neurological processes. However, miRNA changes in the brain tissue in response to stroke have not been reported. Aim: To investigate the functional roles of brain miRNAs and gene regulatory networks in stroke injury. Methods: Adult (8-12 weeks old) male C57Bl/6 mice underwent intraluminal filament-induced middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion. Permanent ischemia (ischemia no reperfusion, InoR; n=8) was achieved by occlusion for 24 h, and ischemia with reperfusion (IR; n=8) was completed after 30 min of MCA followed by 23.5 h of reperfusion. Sham-operated mice (n=8) were used as controls. Total RNA was isolated from mouse brains and gene arrays (Affymetrix) and miRNA arrays (TaqMan OpenArray microRNA) were performed. Validation studies were performed using RT-PCR and TaqMan Individual Assays. Results: Relative to the sham-operated mice, InoR significantly altered (p≤0.05; fold-change≥1.5) the levels of 471 genes (mRNA) in the brain. By contrast, IR resulted in only 114 significant changes in gene expression after 24 h. Brain miRNAs were also very sensitive to both ischemia and reperfusion. 28 miRNAs (11 down, 17 up) were significantly altered by InoR compared to the sham procedure. Likewise, 12 miRNAs (3 down, 9 up) were significantly altered with reperfusion compared to the sham procedure. Interestingly, we found 10 miRNAs to be significantly altered (5 up, 5 down) with ischemia (InoR/Sham), but were also significantly corrected towards normal Sham levels by 23.5 h reperfusion (IR/InoR). Validation studies confirmed that levels of multiple miRNAs were significantly altered with InoR. Reperfusion increased the levels of all these miRNAs. 48% (327/680) of the mRNAs that were altered were predicted targets of significantly altered miRNAs, and our results showed inverse directional changes. Conclusion: Results from our study show the role of miRNAs and post-transcriptional circuits in both adaptive and maladaptive responses to ischemic stroke and reperfusion.

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