Empathy versus Sympathy

The words empathy and sympathy often cause confusion. I know first hand. I used empathy in another blog post this morning. I checked the definitions to be sure.

Both words sound similar and end the same. Both have definitions that deal with emotions.

In its most simple terms, sympathy means to feel pity for someone who is experiencing sadness or difficulties.

Empathy is used most often when a person imagines himself in the sad or difficult situations to the point of experiencing the emotions derived from the difficulty. We often hear, “Put yourself in her shoes,” to explain empathy.

Today I used empathy in my other post because I wanted to convey what one of my daughters experienced as she watched her sister navigate the grief of a mutual friend. Her own grief was compounded by the sadness of her sister.

We send sympathy cards when we want to express sadness over someone else’s grief. We feel empathy when we take that grief as our own.

I hope this post clears up the confusion over empathy and sympathy.

Happy writing!

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her publications include three novels Irish Encounter and Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts as well as nonfiction articles. A member of ACFW, RWA, and SinC, she writes for SeriousWriter.com. She and her husband live in North Carolina and enjoy visits with their two daughters and twin sons.