Empathy and how to help a friend who’s down…. in pictures and words.

A few things popped up on my various feeds this week, all on the same kind of topic.
The first was this cartoon (thanks Catherine)…

Which comes from a blog called www.robot-hugs.com.  Below the line on the facebook page where the cartoon had been posted, was the old story about empathy:

So there’s this guy walking down the street and he falls into a great big hole. A doctor walks by and the guy yells up to the doctor ‘hey, I fell in this hole, can you help me out?’ The doctor writes a prescription, throws it into the hole, and walks on. 

A priest then walks by and the guy yells up to the priest ‘father, can you help me? I fell into this hole and I can’t get out’. The priest says a prayer, throws down a Bible and walks on. 

And then a friend of the guy walks by and the guy yells up ‘hey, buddy, I’m stuck in this hole and -‘ and before he can finish the friend jumps down into the hole. 

‘What the hell are you doing?’ the guy says, ‘Now we’re both down here!’ 

‘Yup’, says the friend, ‘But I’ve been down here before and I know the way out.’

This story is exactly what happened to a client of mine this week.  Someone he cared about jumped into his hole and helped him find the way out.  These are the people we need in our lives.

And then I came across much the same thing from the brilliant RSA shorts series.  This from a lecture about sympathy vs empathy.

Oh, and I nearly forgot the first one, again from Robot Hugs!  Full of useful advice.

Anyone care to recommend any other cartoons they really like about psychological health?