Coming to terms with the other's perspective: empathy in the relation between psychiatrists and persons diagnosed...

This article presents qualitative research into the empathic dimension in the physician-patient relationship. The ways to gain access to the other's perspective and collaborate in clinical management are investigated. The material was researched in Community Mental Health Centers in Rio de Janeiro and Campinas. Focus groups were conducted with psychiatrists and persons diagnosed with schizophrenia and the transcribed material was analyzed using phenomenology and medical anthropology as theoretical frameworks. The narratives studied were organized into five main categories: clinical management; negotiation of medication; diagnosis communication; understanding the user's perspective; and limits of empathy. In these thematic categories the participants developed the following subjects: shared construction of care; the desire to know the diagnosis juxtaposed with hesitation to divulge it; managing the control of symptoms and side effects for the negotiation of medication; the effort to understand the user's experience; and crisis as the limit of empathy.