When you visit a physical or mental healthcare provider, you expect to receive evidence-based treatments with proven results. So, what difference does bedside manner make? And why should empathy be any more important in mental health care?

Like many others, I’ve had successes and setbacks in the course of my mental health journey. Progress is rarely linear in any aspect of life, after all. Sometimes, setbacks are necessary in order to grow.

However, there is a pattern that comes up when I look back at some major milestones. In these cases, success or failure could be predicted according to the answer of one question:

How much empathy did the mental health provider show?

On the one hand, it makes sense that empathy is important in the mental health field. On the other hand, mental health advocates have spent decades reinforcing the objective scientific foundations of treatment.

In this context, if the treatment works, why should it matter if the provider shows empathy?

The answers to this question reveal why human connection is needed from every provider… and it goes far beyond bedside manner.

An Atheist Walks Into Therapy…

I was in a tricky place when I started therapy. I had spent a few years studying part-time in a religious institution. I was committed – and attached – to my faith.

But I had a terrifying secret. I no longer believed in it, no matter how much I wished I could.

I spoke to a psychologist I knew on a personal level. He recommended two potential therapists. One came from the same religious community as I did. The other had no connection to it at all.

It took me a while to make a decision because I had so many questions:

The community member will understand my context… but will he judge me for my doubts?

The non-affiliated therapist will offer a clean slate… but how much time will I waste explaining where I come from?

Will either of them try to bring me to their way of thinking?

In the end, daunted by the idea of explaining the inner workings of my community, I chose the religious therapist.

Carl Rogers and ‘Good, Old-Fashioned’ Therapy

Carl Rogers’s influence is ubiquitous in modern-day psychology. He developed a style of therapy that, although few modern therapists use it, took the field in a new direction.

His approach to therapy has problems. It necessitates dozens – or even hundreds – of hours of therapy sessions per person. It is unsustainable for most people and often unsuitable for crisis situations.

However, the revelation at the core of his approach was almost universally accepted. Therapy should be person-centred. Instead of the therapist taking on the role of the expert, therapy is a collaboration with the client. A collaboration in which the client has the majority of the influence.

To reap the rewards of this approach, empathy is fundamental.

Me-Centred Therapy

My therapist knew far more about the human psyche than I did. He also had strong expectations of himself in a religious context.

But therapy was always about me.

He listened to me and, with his exceptional capacity for empathy, truly saw me. He understood that we needed to focus on how my doubts were affecting me, the factors that had made the schism feel so cataclysmic, and where all of this came from.

In this way, he guided me along a path that had, until then, not been mapped. His expertise in therapy provided guidelines and support, but it was my own personal journey. With his help, I moved further away from the faith he himself practised, finding the courage to take the most difficult steps.

My Doctor Gets It Wrong

One day, fifteen years ago, I find myself sitting across from the professor supervising my postgraduate research. I have no idea what he just said. In fact, I have no memory of coming to his office… or even getting to campus!

When he asks what’s wrong, I tell him I took a sleeping pill the previous night. He tells me to go home and get some sleep. This is a terrible idea, since I came by car, but he doesn’t know that.

How I get home is a mystery, to this day.

What Went Wrong?

The previous day, I had seen a psychiatrist. I’d explained my context – that I was studying psychology in university, had suffered with depression and anxiety, and had never been a ‘perfect’ sleeper.

At the end of the session he prescribed me an antipsychotic with significant side effects, telling me little more than that it worked as a long-term solution. He didn’t tell me that it could leave me disoriented for days.

You might be wondering why a doctor would prescribe an antipsychotic to help me sleep. It’s actually more common than you think. Many pharmaceutical sleeping aids are addictive, providing a very short-term solution with many risks. With another patient, the course of medication might have been perfect.

But I certainly wasn’t that patient.

I had a busy life, with responsibilities every working day – I couldn’t take a few days to get used to the drug. I was young and healthy – years or decades of daily use could lead to major physical issues.

I’d also just lost my dad – learning to process my grief over the long term was more important than sleeping through that very night.

If he had used his capacity for empathy, he would not just have cared more. He would have seen how this drug would affect me, both in the present and in the future. The lack of empathy could have led to long-term physical complications. It could have even proved fatal.

Empathy is (Not) All You Need

In isolation, these two examples make it seem that empathy is THE determinant of success. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. A mental healthcare practitioner who uses treatments that don’t work will have limited success, no matter how much empathy they show.

The same principles apply to mental health content writing. Articles need to be based in academic research and accuracy is absolutely crucial for any advice provided. However, they also need to be easy-to-read and resonate with their intended audience. The benefit you can get from a paint-by-the-numbers explainer about a topic is extremely limited.

At The Empathy Hub, we ensure that everything we write is rooted in empathy. It’s necessary for providing real values to readers. It’s also the most direct way the companies we work with can show potential clients what they can expect.

Looking for empathy-based content that gets results? Contact The Empathy Hub now to book a consultation.