Watch the presentations below or on the Collaborating Centre’s YouTube Channel
The historical epistemology of empathy – Professor Ivana S Marková
Concepts are central to understanding psychiatry. Historical epistemology explores concepts by examining their biographies and identifying factors that shape their evolution. Exploration of empathy shows that the concept is not invariant, has evolved in multiple forms reflecting varying meanings, capturing different phenomena and with different levels of ontological stability.
Ivana S. Marková is Professor of Psychiatry at Hull York Medical School, University of Hull and Honorary Consultant in Psychiatry at the Department of Psychological Medicine with the Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust. She trained in medicine at the University of Glasgow and in psychiatry at Cambridge. In Cambridge, she completed her masters in the history and philosophy of science and obtained her higher doctorate in medicine with a thesis on the structure of the concept of insight. Her current research focuses on the epistemology of psychiatry and mental symptoms. Her clinical work is in liaison psychiatry and Huntington’s disease.
Empathy from a social neuroscience perspective – Dr Idalmis Santiesteban
The ability to empathise with others is crucial for successful social interactions. In his talk I will discuss the multifaceted aspects of empathy, its neural mechanisms, the role of self-other processes and the importance of individual differences when interpreting empathic behaviour in atypical populations. Idalmis is a Psychology lecturer and researcher at the University of Liverpool. She completed a PhD at Birkbeck, University of London, under the supervision of Prof. Geoff Bird. Following her PhD, she completed an ESRC Future Research Leaders Fellowship at the Psychology Department, University of Cambridge. She is now a lecturer in the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology Programme at the University of Liverpool. Her research interests are social cognitive neuroscience and autism. Her current work employs a mixed method approach and relates to issues around late diagnosis, autism in females, masking, mental health and wellbeing of autistic children and adults.
Empathy and the care of people with suicidal behaviour – Karen Lascelles
This presententation is concerned with the value of empathising with the suicidal wish. Empathising with family members and friends of suicidal patients is also considered. Challenges with empathy is this context will be discussed along with empathetic disconnection, and the value of self-empathy, self-compassion and self-reflection will be deliberated. Dr Karen Lascelles (DNurs) Karen is a mental health nurse and senior lecturer at Oxford Brookes University. She has specialsed in the area of suicide and self harm for over a decade, working with patients, family members and carers, and clinicians. Her doctoral research investigated the experiences and needs of family members of adults at risk of suicide, and current research interests include suicide among nurses, the impact of deaths of patients by suicide on clinicians, and the role of religion and spirituality in suicide bereavement. She has been involved in national work on suicide clusters, suicide/self-harm psychosocial assessment assessment and NICE guideline development.
Humanising Healthcare for People with Learning Disabilities – Bojana Daw Srdanovic
Humanising Healthcare for People with Learning Disabilities: Centring Empathy, Resisting Dehumanisation This talk addresses dehumanisation as a challenge to empathy. Focussing on the work of self-advocates as well as preliminary findings from the project Humanising Healthcare for People with Learning Disabilities and/or autism, it presents the social model of disability as central to resisting dehumanisation and fostering empathy.
Bojana is an interdisciplinary qualitative researcher working in the field of Disability Studies . With a professional background at the intersection of social care and the arts, Bojana has extensive experience of working with people with learning disabilities, including in research and drama. Bojana’s research interests revolve around care, including health and social care, community and social participation, and inclusive research methodologies.
The Problems of Empathy – Sarah Songhorian
This presentation will delve into the problems empathy has. First, one must define what it means. We will then focus on how excessive empathy can lead one to lose herself and burnout and on its intrinsic limitations. Finally, we will consider whether regulating or educating empathy can solve empathy’s main problems.
Sarah Songhorian is Assistant Professor in Moral Philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy of Vita-Salute San Raffaele University and Deputy Head of Study Programme, MA Philosophy, Politics and Public Affairs (PPPA), University of Milan and Vita-Salute San Raffaele University. She is a member of the Board for SINe (Società Italiana di Neuroetica e Filosofia delle neuroscienze). She works in Moral Philosophy with particular attention to empathy, the interplay between emotions and reason, moral psychology and moral cognition.
Minding Minds: The Role of Empathy in Psychological Intervention – Bryony Insua-Summerhays
This talk will explore the process by which empathy is understood across theoretical perspectives. It builds toward an understanding of the function of empathy as a mechanism of change in itself, by way of scaffolding developments in reflective functioning and epistemic trust and thereby facilitating the social transmission of knowledge.
Bryony Insua-Summerhays is a Senior Clinical Psychologist working in complex adult mental health. She completed her doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Oxford, with a research focus on social cognition in complex emotional needs and neurodevelopmental conditions, together with identifying women at risk of difficulties in the parent-infant bond. She holds a post secondary care working with a range of presentations, often in context of early developmental trauma; within this, she works between CBT, mentalization based and schema-informed models. Outside of the NHS, she is undertaking training as a Jungian Analyst with the British Jungian Analytic Association (BJAA).