- Morgan D Stosic: University of Maine, Maine. ORCID
- Danielle Blanch-Hartigan: Bentley University, Massachusetts.
- Tamara Aleksanyan: MCPHS University.
- Jennifer Duenas: Yale University, Connecticut.
- Mollie A Ruben: University of Maine, Maine.
The relationship between empathy and burnout in helping professions has been debated extensively, with some arguing the tendency to vicariously experience the emotions of another is a risk factor for burnout and others arguing that this disposition protects against burnout. We sought to aid this debate by assessing the relationship between two empathy facets, positive and negative, and burnout across three samples of helping professionals: practicing clinicians ( = 59), medical students ( = 76), and teaching assistants ( = 77). Results across all three samples consistently revealed that one's tendency to share in the positive emotions of another (i.e., positive empathy) was related to lower levels of burnout, even after controlling for several potential confounding factors. Beyond discussing the utility of the emerging study of positive empathy, we offer potential avenues for reducing burnout in helping professions by emphasizing the importance of sharing in the positive emotions of others.