will settle his fears and let him know that he is being cared for by someone who is concerned about his well-being; if his illness is even partly caused by emotional distress, he may experience relief of part or all of his symptoms just by being listened to empathically. Third, empathic listening takes more time than merely getting a readout from a thermometer, but it ends up saving time in the long run as it generally provides more accurate information about what is really making the patient sick than tests and readouts can. Although the patient may be experiencing a problem with a vital organ, the underlying root cause of his illness may be a personal loss, fear, or
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