Compassion
Compassion is an emotional and cognitive response that arises when recognizing another person’s suffering. It involves both the perception of distress and an internal motivation to reduce or alleviate it. While closely related to empathy—the capacity to understand and share another’s emotional state—compassion is distinct in that it inherently includes concern and a directional impulse toward action. Empathy can be experienced passively, whereas compassion typically motivates an individual to help.
Relation to empathy and other responses
Compassion differs from sympathy, which involves feeling concern for someone without necessarily understanding their experience. It also extends beyond empathic accuracy; a person may accurately understand another’s emotions without feeling moved to respond. Compassion combines emotional resonance with what is sometimes called “sympathetic concern”—a valenced response that creates motivation for action rather than passive understanding alone.
Health and wellbeing dimensions
Cultivating compassion has been associated with improvements in mental health, reduced stress responses, and enhanced social connection. Practices such as loving-kindness meditation and compassion-focused interventions are used in clinical settings to support psychological wellbeing. Both giving and receiving compassion appear to influence physiological stress markers and contribute to resilience. However, prolonged exposure to others’ suffering without adequate support can lead to compassion fatigue, a state of emotional exhaustion in caregiving professions.