Another Self: How Your Body Helps You Understand Others
Why does your nervous system register other people’s pain and distress as your own? Why might your dentist make more mistakes when you are fearful? How does your dog know when you are unwell? Why does your heart rate synchronise with the person you are listening to?
Another Self explains why we sometimes take on the physical, emotional, and even mental states of others. In this book—the first overview of somatic empathy—Dr Cindy Engel brings together research into social perception and interpersonal physiology to explain how and why our thoughts and feelings are not always entirely our own.
New evidence reveals that this tendency to ‘catch’ others’ emotional and physiological condition is not merely a quirk of sensitive individuals but a fundamental aspect of human intelligence: feeling with others is an ancient strategy reaching back into our evolutionary past enabling us to predict their intentions.
Understanding how somatic empathy works and that it affects us without our knowing, enables us to sidestep the perils of taking on another self (vicarious harm, overwhelm, and burnout) while optimising our comprehension of ourselves and others.
Be prepared to reassess your sense of self, your relationships, your occupation, and your choice of entertainment.
Cindy Engel is a Shiatsu practitioner with a large experience about somatic empathy through her practice. Peter Deadman (founder of the Journal of Chinese Medicine + author of Manual of Acupuncture etc) thinks it should be read by “every doctor, nurse, therapist, body worker and complementary medicine practitioner”. And Cliff Andrews reckons “a must read for anyone working in any therapeutic profession”.
