Objective:To explore the effects of empathic nursing combined with therapeutic communication on self-burden, negative emotions and coping styles in elderly inpatients with coronary heart disease.Methods:Using the convenient sampling, a total of 135 elderly patients with coronary heart disease who were admitted to Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University from February 2020 to May 2021 were selected as the research objects. The patients were divided into the observation group ( n=67) and the control group ( n=68) by the random number table method. The control group was given empathy nursing and routine psychological intervention, while the observation group was given empathy nursing combined with therapeutic communication intervention. Self Perceived Burden Scale (SPBS) , Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) , Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire (MCMQ) were used to evaluate self-burden, negative emotions and coping styles of patients before and after intervention. Results:After the intervention, scores of SPBS, SAS and SDS of the observation group were lower than those of the control group, and the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.05) . The face dimension score in the MCMQ of the observation group was higher than that of the control group, and the avoidance and yield dimension scores were lower than those of the control group, and the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.05) . Conclusions:Empathy nursing combined with therapeutic communication in elderly inpatients with coronary heart disease can help relieve the patients' sense of self-burden and improve negative emotions and coping styles, which has high application values.