The couple would be the best painkiller, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Psychological Science. Spousal empathy improves the physical function of people who are suffering and makes everyday life more bearable.
Researchers at Ohio State University in the United States conducted a study with 152 patients withosteoarthritis, all over 50, married or living with a partner. Participants answered short daily surveys for 22 days. Spouses rated their partner’s degree of pain. Patients rated the degree to which spouses responded to their expression of pain.
Empathy improves the daily lives of patients
The researchers measured the patients’ physical function – including balance, gait, speed and the ability to get out of a chair – at the start of the study, 6 months later and 18 months later.
“Based on previous work, we expected that patients with more sensitive and caring spouses would experience their pain better,” explained Stephanie Wilson, an Ohio State researcher and lead author of the study. “We wanted to confirm these findings.”
Study results showed that patients with empathic partners showed improved physical function 6 and 18 months later compared to patients with partners who were less sensitive to their pain. Indeed, the researchers observed that patients with osteoarthritis whose spouses were more empathetic in daily interactions saw their physical function improve more and more quickly over time: these patients regain better balance, walk faster and manage to get up on their own. “A model of empathic reactivity therefore to be encouraged and whatever the pathology of course”, concludes the researcher.
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