Agnes M. F. Wong - The Art and Science of Compassion, A Primer

Well-written, deeply personal and scientifically grounded, this book provides strong physiological, psychological, and ethical reasons why cultivating compassion is essentialand provides a thoughtful roadmap for promoting compassion in healthcare and in all of life.

Ron Epstein, MD, author of Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness, and Humanity

Dr. Agnes Wong, a highly distinguished physician and exceptional researcher at the University of Toronto, has written an absolutely uplifting masterpiece about meaning, compassionate care, and the universal journey that all healers must take to sustain their inner being and nobility of purpose. This book is partly her journey to a deeper state of being that places compassionate care in its rightful place in the healing art; it is also a fabulous scientific presentation of the practice and impact of compassionate care on patients and on ones own flourishing as a physician. This is a book that touches the soul and should be read by every medical student or clinician worldwide as they reflect on what it means to really succeed in their whole selves as healers and human beings.

Stephen G. Post, PhD, Director, Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics; Professor of Family, Population, and Preventive Medicine, Stony Brook University

Compassion and empathy are traits that make us human, and as Dr. Wong shows, these qualities can be developed, encouraged, and cultivated. In our struggling world, we need this awareness as never before. The future of our species likely depends on it. This book is an example of how science and spirituality can come together in a brilliant synthesis.

Larry Dossey, MD, author of One Mind: How Our Individual Mind Is Part of a Greater Consciousness and Why It Matters

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Oxford University Press 2021

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Wong, Agnes M.F., 1968 author.

Title: The art and science of compassion, a primer : reflections of

a physician-chaplain / Agnes M.F. Wong.

Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2021] |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020030314 (print) | LCCN 2020030315 (ebook) |

ISBN 9780197551387 (paperback) | ISBN 9780197551400 (epub) | ISBN 9780197551417

Subjects: MESH: Empathy | Compassion Fatiguepsychology |

Professional-Patient Relations | Attitude of Health Personnel

Classification: LCC BF575.E55 (print) | LCC BF575.E55 (ebook) |

NLM BF 575.E55 | DDC 152.4/1dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020030314

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020030315

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To Joseph and Esther, for giving me this precious life;

James and Stephen, for bringing much joy and a new dimension to my being;

Bill, for your love, trust, and unwavering support as we travel this journey together;

and

Roshi Joan, for showing me the way to a wholehearted practice in this world.

At a science conference in India, His Holiness the Dalai Lama noted that Compassion is not religious business; it is human business. It is not a luxury... it is essential for human survival. He later wrote, However capable and skilful an individual may be, left alone, he or she will not survive. However vigorous and independent one may feel during the most prosperous periods of life, when one is sick or very young or very old, one must depend on the support of others.... I believe that at every level of societyfamilial, tribal, national, and internationalthe key to a happier and more successful world is the growth of compassion.

We cannot say with certainty whether compassion is genetic, instinctual, intentional, cultural, or socially prescribed. However, we have learned from scientific research that compassion enhances the welfare of those who receive it and also benefits those who give it. Compassion also benefits those who observe an act of compassion.

Over my years of caring for dying people, I came to see that compassionate presence can reduce the anxiety dying people experience and can also have a positive effect on those who serve others who are suffering.

Years ago, my student Dr. Gary Pasternak, the medical director of Mission Hospice in San Mateo, California, and a long-term meditator, sent me an email that moved me deeply. It exemplified the qualities that I have come to value in a physician. He wrote,

Im up late admitting patients to the inpatient hospice unit. Just when I think Im too old for these late nights without sleep, a person in all their rawness, vulnerability, and pain lays before me and as my hands explore the deep wounds in her chest and my ears open to her words, my heart cracks open once again.... And this night a sweet 36-year-old woman with her wildly catastrophic breast cancer speaks of her acceptance and her hope for her children, and she speaks with such authenticity and authority. And her acceptance comes to me as the deepest humility a person can experience and then again, once again, I remember why I stay up these late nights and put myself in the company of the dying.