Sympathy vs. Empathy

I had an interesting thought today having to do with sympathy and empathy. The two terms are often synonymous with each other but do they really represent the same thing? As a medical professional this is a very relevant topic for me. Often times when working in the medical field it is easy to become detached from all of the sickness and death associated with the profession. It is essential to maintain some fine balance without becoming too emotionally attached or detached. This is where the sympathy vs. empathy question comes into play. Sympathy is an important concept in patient care but I feel empathy is far more important. Empathy implies that you have a sort of connection or understanding of a given situation whereas sympathy I feel means only to feel sorry for a situation. I had a pretty heavy session with my new therapist today, he is still getting a feel for who I am and what my experiences are. I spent most of the hour trying to convey some of the events that shaped who I am today. After just a brief synopsis he told me that he has a lot of sympathy for me due to the unfortunate experiences I've had over the last 39 years. I told him that I didn't want anyone's sympathy, I just want answers to my questions and who I am. He corrected himself then and told me that he had empathy for my situation. I want sympathy from no one really, empathy on the other hand is far more welcome. What is the difference really? Does sympathy equal pity? Does empathy convey a much more deep understanding or connection? To me when someone empathizes with you, that they feel for your experience as an equal. Perhaps that there is some kind of common ground that you share together. Sympathy just seems to have a "Wow, that sucks", kind of connotation to it. Whereas empathy implies more emotional weight to it. I said it earlier and I say it again, I want no one's sympathy or pity, I think it's degrading in a way. I'm not saying that all sympathy is bad, I just prefer empathy. When dealing with patients in a hospital situation I think this is especially important. We should not pity patients, we should empathize with them. I don't know, maybe I'm just confused or full of shit. Is there really a difference between sympathy or empathy? I guess that it could be very subjective in nature, I just know how I feel about it and I will continue to try to be empathetic to people's troubles and experiences whether they be physical in nature or mental.