Empathy and Physical Therapy

Author and advisor to world leaders Jeremy Rifkin talks about Mirror Neurons (and more) that may explain how humans relate to each other.

His presentation begs the question:

If babies cry because other babies are crying, not because they are hurting or hungry, and their behavior is due to their "mirror neurons" that what implication does that have for our chronic pain patients in physical therapy.

How much chronic pain behavior is learned behavior, not mechanical?



Foe example, if I am treating a chronic pain patient who is anxious and depressed and I respond to him with empathy, optimism and encouragement will his mirror neurons cause his mental status to improve?

Can we measure his improvement clinically (without an MRI)?

Dr. Rifkin goes on to draw many other conclusions from his data on mirror neurons and the video is worth watching for his compelling arguments, scientific data and the interesting animations.
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Empathy and Physical Therapy
Empathy and Physical Therapy
Reviewed by Merlyn Rosell
Published :
Rating : 4.5