A healing hope

Especially toward the end of life, said McCullough, author of “My Mother, Your Mother,’’ a book about caring for aging relatives, slow medicine - taking the time to pay attention to a person’s emotional and spiritual as well as medical needs - is essential. “You have to make a covenant with patients to, in all circumstances, be a part of their support, and not to abandon them,’’ he said.

Sometimes, this kind of empathy all by itself can promote healing. In a study published in the July issue of Family Medicine, Dr. David Rakel, director of integrative medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, looked at 350 patients who were randomly assigned to one of three groups: no interaction with a doctor (the patients saw only study staff), a standard visit with a physician, and a visit in which the doctor asked more questions and tried to show more empathy. The patients then rated their doctors on empathy.