The Power of Compassion | James Doty, MD

The Doctor's Art

Henry Bair and Tyler Johnson

Medicine, Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Philosophy

5 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 January 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What if we could scientifically prove that compassion improves our well-being, our cognitive function, our longevity, and societal welfare? Here to explore these questions is our guest on this episode, James Doty, MD, a neurosurgeon, inventor, entrepreneur and writer. As the founding director of Stanford's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, his academic focus is the neurobiological effects of meditation, compassion, and altruistic behavior. His bestselling 2017 memoir, Into the Magic Shop, details his path from a troubled childhood to becoming an internationally-renowned surgeon and philanthropist. He has served on the board of a number of nonprofit organizations, including as former Chairman of the Dalai Lama Foundation, and is on the International Advisory Board of the Council of the Parliament of the World's Religions. In this episode, we discuss his unlikely journey to medicine and the incredible insights on compassion he has collected over the years.

In this episode, you will hear about:

Dr. Doty’s difficult childhood experiences and how the kindness of strangers pulled him to medicine - 2:10
How Dr. Doty dealt with the fish-out-of-water experiences in medical school - 11:00
A discussion of negative self-talk and how to overcome it - 17:30
How Dr. Doty went from developing a neuroscience center in impoverished Mississippi to establishing an altruism research lab at Stanford University - 20:19
A discussion of the eponymous incident of Dr. Doty’s book Into the Magic Shop and how it profoundly shifted his view on compassion - 26:06
A review of some of the exciting findings of Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education - 32:36
Reflections on how Dr. Doty practices compassion in his daily life - 38:29
A brief discussion of the power of belief and how it shapes our reality - 44:00
A discussion of how the dehumanizing bureaucracy and profiteering of the medical field is failing physicians - 49:55

Dr. James Doty is the author of the best-selling memoir Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart.

He is the senior editor of the Handbook of Compassion Science published by Oxford University.

Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to [email protected].

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, I'm Henry Bear.
0:03.0	And I'm Tyler Johnson.
0:05.0	And you're listening to The Doctors Art, a podcast that explores meaning in medicine.
0:09.0	Throughout our medical training and career, we have pondered.
0:13.2	What makes medicine meaningful?
0:15.1	Can a stronger understanding of this meaning
0:17.2	create better doctors?
0:18.8	How can we build health care institutions
0:20.6	that nurture the doctor-patient connection.
0:23.0	What can we learn about the human condition
0:25.0	from accompanying our patients in times of suffering?
0:28.0	In seeking answers to these questions,
0:30.0	we meet with deep thinkers working across health care, from doctors and nurses to patients and health care executives, those who have collected a career's worth of hard-earned wisdom.
0:40.0	Probing the moral heart that beats at the core of medicine, we will hear stories that are by turns heart-breaking, amusing, inspiring, challenging, and enlightening.
0:49.0	We welcome anyone curious about why doctors do what they do?
0:53.0	Join us as we think out loud about what illness and healing can teach us
0:57.0	about some of life's biggest questions.
1:02.0	What if we could scientifically prove that compassion improves our well-being, our
1:06.8	cognitive function, our longevity, and societal welfare?
1:11.2	Our guest on this episode, Dr. James Doty, is a neurosurgeon, inventor, entrepreneur, and writer.
1:18.0	As the founding director of Stanford Center for Compassion and Altarism Research and Education. His academic focus is the neurobiological effects of meditation, compassion, and altruistic behavior.
1:29.0	His best-selling 2017 memoir, Into the Magic Shop details his journey from a troubled childhood
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Henry Bair and Tyler Johnson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Henry Bair and Tyler Johnson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.