The Empathy Effect

The breakdown of empathy is a growing conversation topic these days, especially with political rhetoric filled with hatred and threats of violence, growing income inequality, and a general unease about how to get along amidst escalating tensions around the world. Enter Dr. Helen Riess of Harvard Medical School.

Nicknamed "the Empathy Doc" by colleagues as well as in the media, Dr. Riess's work has attracted the attention of such notables as bestselling authors Paul Ekman and Atul Gawande, as well as the foreword contributor to this volume, Alan Alda. Dr. Riess's empathy-training curricula are used internationally in major health-care organizations as well as in business and education. In this book, Dr. Riess champions the idea that empathy is an essential life skill that can be taught and learned.

In her Tools of E.M.P.A.T.H.Y. Program, she shows readers how to identify and enhance empathetic behavior in themselves and in others. Practice empathy in any setting; use empathy to recognize and reverse the dehumanization and hate-mongering of groups scapegoated for an economic or system failure; understand and initiate Group Empathy Skills and shared brain intelligence; overcome personal bias through empathy to build relationships with people who are different from us, or who hold opposing views; and much more.

By the end of the book, Dr. Riess says, readers will wonder why empathy training isn't woven into our lives and taught to each of us, just as we learned to ride a bike, swim, or read.

About the Author

Helen Riess, MD, is an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the director of the Empathy and Relational Science Program in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, the Washington Post, HuffPost, WRUR, JAMA, Harvard Review of Psychiatry, and elsewhere. Her popular TEDx Talk, "The Power of Empathy," has over 819,000 viewers across all social media platforms. Dr. Riess is in constant demand as a speaker.

Liz Neporent is an award-winning health and medical journalist. She has written sixteen health-related books including the bestsellers The Winner's Brain, Fitness for Dummies, and Weight Training for Dummies. Neporent was a senior health reporter and director of health and medical social media for ABC News National for more than five years. She is currently a managing editor at Medscape/WebMD.