Cognitively Based Compassion Training (CBCT): Dr. M. Bento Soares

The Doctor's Life

The guest today is Dr. M. Bento Soares, PhD, who is Senior Associate Dean for Research and Professor and Head of the Department of Cancer Biology and Pharmacology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria. Dr. Soares is passionate about having medical professionals learn the skills that will allow them to express their humanity and be present with their patients without having the psychic pain that can accompany feeling empathy, and leads us to avoid feeling "too much" for our patients. He and 5 other leaders at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria and the Methodist College of Nursing have spent a year studying Cognitively Based Compassion Training at Emory University, and are now teaching their first 8 week CBCT course to 60 academic, political and community leaders in Peoria. CBCT is based in both science and Eastern teachings, and is a completely secular practice that one can learn in 8 weeks to develop compassion for self and others, among other skills. CBCT has been studied and shown to decrease depression, burnout, and stereotyping of patients, as well as many other benefits that Dr. Ansari-Winn and Dr. Soares discuss in today's show.