Passion and the science of KINDNESS

Kindness when caring.

Ballatt and Campling in their 2011 book, Intelligent Kindness: Reforming the Culture of Healthcare,9 summarise some of the evidence for the impact that kindness can have on our own brains.

For example, in altruistic individuals, increased activity in the posterior superior temporal cortex has been reported (when compared with less altruistic individuals). Individual acts of kindness release both endorphins and oxytocin, and create new neural connections. The implications for such plasticity of the brain are that altruism and kindness become self-authenticating.

In other words, kindness can become a self-reinforcing habit requiring less and less effort to exercise. Indeed, data from functional magnetic resonance (FMR) scans show that even the act of imagining compassion and kindness activates the soothing and affiliation component of the emotional regulation system of the brain.

There is also some evidence to link the importance of kindness with healing, and the impact of the quality of the interaction between a health professional and a patient on the placebo effect is well recognised. There are also claims of improved diagnostic accuracy associated with empathic staff — as well as an observed effect of kindness on promoting healing and reducing anxiety. In a randomised controlled trial of ‘compassionate care’ for the homeless in an emergency department, frequent attenders received either ‘usual care’ or a compassionate care ‘package’. The outcomes included fewer repeat visits and increased satisfaction with their care in the intervention group

This article has been sourced from the following: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4917056/