Sympathy vs. empathy

When it comes to hard days for pet parents at the veterinary clinic or euthanasia appointments, it can be a heavy weight for pet parents and veterinary professionals to carry. This can lead veterinary professionals to empathize and sympathize with clients and relate themselves to them, but is there a difference between the 2? If so, what is it and why is it important to understand?

During this interview previewing her upcoming lecture at Fetch Kansas City, Jill Clark, DVM, explained the difference between empathy and sympathy, and where they play a part in the veterinary clinic.

Below is a partial transcript:

Jill Clark, DVM: Sympathy is like expressing care and concern for someone's feelings without necessarily sharing those emotions yourself. And sympathy, honestly has a little bit of a distance that we keep from the client. So sympathy might sound like, Oh, I'm sorry for your loss. Let me know if there's anything you need, right? So I feel bad for you. If there's something you need, you let me know, and I'll help you. Whereas empathy is the ability to understand and share the other person's feelings, and it often and really should have a deep emotional connection to the point, really, that we're imagining how that person would feel, or we're recalling emotions that we've had in a similar situation.