Empathy is a process for understanding an individuals subjective experiences by vicariously sharing that experience while maintaining an observant stance.

It is a useful tool in the medical encounter as it provides the physician with a fuller, more personalized view of the patient, and it provides the patient with a sense of connectedness to the physician that may allow him/her to more freely express his/her emotional distress.

The roots of empathy are explained as a process that evolves from a developmental substrate with the addition of relevant experience, memory, and fantasy.