Sympathy, empathy, compassion

they seem the same but they are not

Abstract

Empathy consists of understanding the situation of another person which involves different
degrees of emotional attunement. When the proximity by kinship or friendship is important,
we can not avoid feeling contagion by the emotions of those around us, dominating this
affective resonance. In this case, sympathy surpasses empathy. Empathy, unlike sympathy,
allows you to take a planned action. This is a compassionate behavior, directed to comfort
or to solve the problem afflicting a person. Compassionate behaviors release tension from
the caregiver, while emotional contagion puts their health at risk. Doctors and nurses,
among other professions, have to know how to manage the therapeutic distance to be able
to think clearly about the best way for each patient, but without falling into the coldness of
the technician. In a concrete way, they must know the dangers posed by pitfalls of piety.