Motivation and Emotion, Vol. 19, No. 3, 1995 Emotion and the Physician-Patient Relationship Richard M. FrankeP University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry Primary Care Institute, Highland Hospital This paper develops a framework of the role of empathy in patient care and explicitly links the framework to important outcomes. Following a definition of empathy and clinical examples, evidence is reviewed on the relevance of empathy to increasing patient satisfaction, increasing adherence with physician recommendations, and decreasing the frequency of medical malpractice suits. The essence of the practice of medicine is that it is an intensely personal matter... the treatment of a disease may be entirely impersonal, the care of the patient must be entirely personal. The significance of the intimate personal relationship between physician and patient cannot be too strongly emphasized, for in an extraordinarily large number of cases both diagnosis and treatment are directly dependent on it... one of the essential qualities of the clinician is interest in humanity, for the secret of the care of the patient is in caring for the patient. (E W. Peabody, 1927) The qualities of caring, compassion, and concern have characterized the doctor-patient relationship throughout history. It is only recently that the skills associated with these qualities have been operationalized and related to outcomes of care (Cohen-Cole, 1991; Inui & Carter, 1985; Squier, 1990). This paper focuses on affect and the development of therapeutic relations in the medical encounter, and explores the use of a family of caring skills including empathy, support, and legitimation. Lazare (1989) described four key tasks in developing therapeutic re- lations: (1) facilitating patients' willingness to provide diagnostic informa- tion, (2) relief of physical and psychological distress, (3) satisfaction of physician and patient, and (4) willingness to accept and adhere to a treat- lAddress all correspondence to Richard M. Frankel, Director, Primary Care Institute, Highland Hospital, 1000 South Avenue, Rochester, New York 14620. 163 0146-7239/95/0900-0163507.50f0 © 1995 Plenum Publishing Col~poration