Article 10: Mirror Neurons: Foundational Building Block For Empathy

Have you ever watched someone eat something delicious or stub their toe and felt like you were experiencing it too? This ability to feel connected to others’ experiences is driven by mirror neurons.

Mirror neurons are located in several areas of the brain, including the motor strip, sensory strip, and other emotional centres such as the amygdala. They fire when we perform a movement, watch someone else perform a movement, or when we observe or listen to something that emotionally moves us.

These neurons are the foundation of empathy and human connection. But why do we feel emotions more intensely when witnessing others’ suffering, yet we don’t physically feel actions as though we are doing them ourselves? Understanding this difference is key to knowing how empathy works—and why compassion is essential to avoid burnout.

Mirror Neurons: How They Work

Mirror neurons were discovered in 1992 by neuroscientist Giacomo Rizzolatti and his team while studying monkeys’ brains. One day, a researcher walked into the lab eating ice cream, and even though the monkey was still, its motor neurons fired as if it were eating too! This accidental discovery revealed that the brain can internally simulate actions observed in others. When you watch someone perform a movement—like lifting an object or running—your mirror neurons fire as if you're preparing to perform that movement yourself.

Why We Don't Physically Feel Observed Movements

Why don’t we feel like we’re physically performing these actions when observing others? This is because our skin acts as a natural barrier or boundary to other people. For example, if you are watching someone tap their arm, your sensory mirror neurons will fire, but you don't physically feel it. Your skin sends signals up to the brain, letting it know "that's not me tapping my arm".

Emotional Mirror Neurons: Why Emotions Hit Harder

The story is different when it comes to emotions. As mentioned, we also have mirror neurons in the emotional centres of the brain, like the amygdala and insula. These emotional mirror neurons fire when we observe others expressing emotions - whether happiness, sadness, or anger - allowing us to share in their emotional experience.

So why do we feel another person's emotions?

Unlike physical movements, there is no natural boundary between people at emotional levels. There is no "skin" separating us emotionally. This lack of barrier with emotional mirror neurons blurs the sense of "I'm me and you're you, we're different", allowing emotional experiences to merge.

Empathy, or feeling what another person is feeling, is essentially mirror neuron activation!

This is why we connect with someone a lot more, on an emotional level. It's through this merging that the influence takes place, and when this influence can be therapeutic, its a good thing. There's a strong alliance, and healing can take place. We have the ability to merge a lot more with emotional mirror neurons, then the sensory or motor neurons. On the flip side, its also how we can pick up on other people's stress, and feel 'emotionally weighed down'.

Empathy: A Double-Edged Sword

While empathy allows us to connect with others on a deep level, it also has a downside. For therapists, caregivers, or anyone in emotionally supportive roles, this ability to feel others' emotions can lead to emotional exhaustion or burnout. Constantly absorbing others’ feelings can become overwhelming if we don’t have strategies in place to manage the emotional load.

This is why having or creating boundaries are so important. Setting boundaries helps "calibrate" emotional mirror neurons, creating an "artificial skin" that reduces merging.

Setting boundaries is self-care for preventing burnout. It's creating the skill to be able to say "this is me, this is you".

Compassion: The Antidote to Empathy

This is where the balance between empathy and compassion becomes critical. Empathy is feeling all the feeling (emotional mirror neuron activation). It includes an internal attitude of curiosity - an openess to and genuine interest in another's experience - paired with an outward expression to convey understanding (for more on empathy, see Milller & Moyers, 2021).

Compassion, however, adds a motivational component. There is a sensitivity to our own and others' suffering and a motivation to alleviate or prevent it (Steindl et al., 2017). With compassion, you're actively promoting the health and wellbeing of your client.

Compassion tends to activate the reward circuit of the brain (perhaps a topic for a future article!). This is why helping someone feels good - it's reinforcing, and less draining than empathy alone.

It’s a constant balance between feeling and action. Empathy fosters engagement and helps a person feel understood. But if we remain solely with the person’s suffering, we risk feeling overwhelmed and potentially amplifying their distress. When you notice signs of fatigue, the client discussing change, or an unmet need, this might be a signal to shift into "doing" mode by drawing on your compassion skills. Questions that follow unmet needs or evoke change talk include:

• "How might things be different if you...?"

• "How might you go about it?"

• "What might be you next step?"

• "What would help give you the best chance of making this change?"

Motivational interviewing (MI) can also be a useful here. It's a particular way of talking with people about change and growth, aimed at strengthening their own motivation and commitment. MI has even been referred to as 'compassion in action' (Miller & Rollnick, 2023).

How to Buffer Against Burnout

First and foremost - be your own scientist. Experiment with different strategies that work for you. Build your own toolkit so you have things you can do to prevent and replenish from burnout. Here are some suggestions to consider:

• Practice self-awareness: Be mindful of what's going inside yourself - pay attention to your reactions and how you are feeling in session.

• Consider your workload: Are you potentially seeing too many complex trauma clients in one day? (this reflects a system issue, not competency issue). No amount of bubble baths will fix this.

• Consider your own therapy or supervision: Perhaps someone trained outside of your expertise. This will help you to see things from a different perspective.

• Know when to switch between empathy and compassion: When you focus on action/what to do, it activates the reward circuit. This is one reason we sometimes jump straight into 'fix it" mode, because our brains are getting reinforced for it. But, without first meeting the client where they are at, and connecting empathetically, clients may not feel understood, or follow through with treatment. Therefore, we need to connect and join (build therapeutic alliance) in addition to 'doing'/solution-focused work.

• Try imagining a boundary in session: imagine a piece of glass between you and the client. This can help to guard you against falling down the rabbit hole or too much merging. The "glass" can help dampen the mirror neurons when you're trying to distance yourself/calibrate. If you are an empath, it can be a great distancing technique.

• Spend time with animals: Animals are a great way to boost oxytocin levels! Horses, in particular, reflect your emotional state back to you - acting as biofeedback at an attachment level. This might be a reason why Equine Therapy is popular!

Final Thoughts

Mirror neurons are the brain’s way of helping us connect deeply with others—whether through actions or emotions. While they create the foundation for empathy, allowing us to share in others’ experiences, they can also lead to emotional overload if we lack the skills to manage them.

Compassion provides a crucial balance, turning empathy into a more sustainable connection that activates the brain’s reward system rather than draining it. By setting healthy boundaries, knowing when to shift from empathy to compassionate action, and using self-care strategies, we can build resilience against burnout. In the end, understanding how mirror neurons work and how to balance empathy with compassion is key to maintaining well-being in our professional and personal lives.

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#MirrorNeurons #Empathy #Compassion #Burnout #SelfCare

 References

Miller, W. R., & Moyers, T. B. (2021). Effective psychotherapists: Clinical skills that improve client outcomes. Guildford Press.

Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, M. (2023). Motivational Interviewing: Helping people change and grow (4th ed.). Guilford Press.

Steindl, S. R., Kirby, J. N., & Tellegan, C. (2018). Motivational interviewing in compassion‐based interventions: Theory and practical applications. Clinical Psychologist, 22(3), 265–279. https://doi.org/10.1111/cp.12146