Psychiatrists' Illustration of Awe in Empathic Listening Assessments: A Pilot Study.
Parameshwaran Ramakrishnan, Thomas M Brod, Thomas Lowder, Prasad R Padala
Cureus March 1, 2024 DOI: 10.7759/cureus.55684 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Exploratory case series Pilot study Qualitative Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 6 |
| Population | Patients aged 32-72 years (two males, four females) in a psychiatrist's empathic listening assessments |
| Intervention | empathic listening |
| Duration | Mean 46.17 minutes per interaction |
| Keywords | Analytical autoethnography Awe and non-agency Clinical chaplaincy Contemplative neuroscience Empathic listening Evidence-based medicine ebm Metaphysics and phenomenology Non-dual and non-agency Transcendent unknowable Transpersonal mindfulness |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key findings | The emotions of awe and non-agency were ubiquitous in all six case studies for both the psychiatrist and patients, with data classed into mindfulness and transpersonal mindfulness themes. |
Abstract
Background: "Awe" is typically an inspiring emotional response to perceptually vast stimuli signifying the transcendence beyond all cognitive frames of reference when we encounter the unexpected. Physicians' experience of awe in clinical care interactions has not been studied in an empirical, evidence-based way. We aim to present a focused study of awe in a psychiatrist's empathic listening (EL) assessments and propose an evidence-based framework to study it. Methodology This is an exploratory case series of a psychiatrist's EL interactions (mean duration/x̄ of 46.17 minutes) with six patients (two males and four females) aged 32-72 years (x̄ =54.67, σ = 16.64). Using the method of autoethnography, the verbal and nonverbal aspects of the EL assessments were analyzed and open-coded to generate qualitative data.
Results: The study revealed that the data in all the case studies could be classed into two thematic groups, namely, mindfulness and transpersonal mindfulness. The emotions of "awe" and "non-agency" were ubiquitous in all six case studies both for the psychiatrist and patients.
Conclusions: Recognizing the awe and non-agency in EL interaction is essential in conceptualizing the "mindfulness-to-transcendence" framework and the first step toward the evidence-based study of transcendence/metaphysics in phenomenological psychiatry.