According to a study, doctors who show emotion come across as more trustworthy

For the study, more than 1,500 people from Switzerland evaluated fictional conversation scenarios, the University of Bern announced on Wednesday. The expression of emotions or the sharing of personal experiences by doctors was rated consistently as positive or neutral.

For example, if a doctor showed sadness and had tears in their eyes, this significantly increased the perceived level of empathy. Sharing a relevant personal experience—such as a close relative’s illness—also significantly boosted ratings for trust and professionalism.

A key finding of the study is that such emotional expressions never diminished perceptions of professionalism. This refutes the widespread fear that expressing emotions poses a risk to one’s professionalism, lead author Robert Staeck is quoted as saying in the press release.

The researchers pointed out that the results were based on hypothetical scenarios and that Switzerland's cultural diversity was only partially reflected.

Study director Sofia Zambrano emphasized that the findings suggest that emotional competencies should be firmly integrated into medical education as a core competency. The study was published in the journal *Journal of General Internal Medicine*.