Some resent research on the Amygdala...

A researcher by the name of Abigail Marsh has dedicated her life to the study of altruism and psychopathology.  Part of her conclusions involve the concept of fear and how people react to it.  This again goes back to the amygdala, our almond shaped structure in the middle part of the brain.  She  conducted brain scans on altruists (people who have donated a kidney to a stranger) and psychopaths in the prison system.  The amygdala in the altruists were larger and fired up more often then the psychopaths that hardly responded and whose amydala was smaller.  In this view, the hormone oxytocin was also involved.  This hormone is referred to as the love or cuddle hormone, which interacts with the amydala to help people respond to the fear that others are experiencing.  So to respond to the fear, we need to have empathy and compassion.  This little area of the brain, the amydala, has a big job. 
I was very interested in this subject when I was working with one of my clients.  I spoke to Len Ochs about this client and his conclusion was that the client could create more empathy.  As I work more and more with this system, I am impressed with the results.  Give it a try!