Psychotherapist Empathy

Definition of empathy

By definition, empathy is the understanding of emotions  a person through empathy and insight into his inner world.
Empathy is critically important for everyone  helping professions (social workers, psychotherapists) and those who  interacts with people (teachers, sellers, officials and others).

The term itself appeared in 1912 in the English dictionary  and in meaning was close to the German einfühling (penetration) applied  Lipps at the end of the 19th century in connection with the theory of the impact of art on the psyche.  Sigmund Freud, describing the process of empathy, wrote “we take into account the mental  state, we put ourselves in it and try to understand it, comparing it with our own.”

Empathy can be empathy, complete  immersion in the feeling of another person - affective, emotional. Or  more abstract without immersion.
Therefore, the levels of empathy differ
- empathy (experienced emotions are identical to those observed)
- sympathy (emotional response, desire to help)
- sympathy (warm attitude)

Understanding based on empathy is not  the result of the efforts of the intellect.

A number of researchers consider the empathy of a psychotherapist  congenital.  The ability to empathize is genetically determined, and life experience can only  weaken or strengthen it.

If you know how to tune in to the same wavelength as  interlocutor, you have a wealth of life experience - then you most likely  good empathy.

Lack of empathy is often associated with disorders  autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia or psychopathy. Psychopaths can imitate  empathy at the same time, although they do not experience it.

Empathy errors

There are mistakes in using empathy. Here  some of them:
1.      Rejection of another person's feelings, which a person avoids in himself.  Moreover, he does this unconsciously. This is so  called “empathic blindness.”
2.    Inappropriate obsessive and even pathological use of empathy (for example, Prince Myshkin in the novel “The Idiot”)
3.    Manipulative use of empathy for hidden suggestion or persuasion.

You should not do this, but, like any skill, empathy  can be trained and effectively used for good.

Carl Rogers, thoroughly client centered  psychotherapy considered empathy one of the three prerequisites for success in  therapy along with congruence and unconditional acceptance.  These three elements ensure a healthy  therapeutic contact throughout therapy.

What does psychotherapist empathy look like in practice

There are simple metaphors for “getting into someone else’s shoes,”  “see the situation through someone else’s eyes” which well describe the experience  empathy.
But in practice, the process of empathy is somewhat more complicated.
Let's look at this using an example: the client began to cry.
The psychotherapist sees tears and a strangled, intermittent  breathing, which indicates what physiological processes are currently connected  with emotions. Comparing with his experience at this moment, he builds  a hypothesis about what the client is currently experiencing. The psychotherapist begins  experience pain or sadness based on his hypothesis, but at the same time he does not  feels exactly the same as the client experiences. This is happening  because the psychotherapist is not in fusion with the client and retains  distance from these feelings, they are temporary. Thus experiencing sadness, he  makes allowances for the fact that this sadness is only a reflection of possible sadness  client "as if". The client verbally gives more context for his  understanding the situation and your subjective experiences.

Empathy in client-centered therapy

From the point of view of client-centered therapy  violations are based on the difference between the experiences of oneself and the “I-concept”  learned from introjections of conditional acceptance by significant people.
Thus, therapy is the unconditional acceptance of the therapist  changes the “I-concept” through empathic entry into the inner world  another, putting aside their own views and values, sensitivity to  experiencing the meanings of another.
In this way, the client develops trust in his own  experiences, self-acceptance, finding your voice and your path.

Empathy of a psychotherapist in psychoanalysis

In psychoanalysis, that is, in psychodynamic therapy  the goal of empathy is to achieve a comparable state of regression to  client's condition.  Thus  the understanding of his memories and fantasies is facilitated, which provides access to  unconscious.  Empathy - “regression  in the service of a psychotherapist", the ability to hear voices that are drowned out by noise  thought process and is temporary. Thus  the psychoanalyst constantly oscillates between the position of observer and participant. So  way the therapist experiences the client's experience without losing the ability to evaluate it  mental state objectively.
From the point of view of neuropsychology, empathy is conditioned  by the work of so-called “mirror” neurons and is formed at the moment  interaction between mother and child.

The Empathic Response Cycle

Barrett-Lennard called the main phases of empathic  response in therapy. Here they are:
1.      Preconditions. This  the attitude that the therapist has before starting therapy, including openness to  the client's experiences.
2.    Empathic resonance. Getting on the same wavelength with the client when  The therapist turns inward to the meanings and feelings that arise in  response to the client's story and experiences.
3.    Expressions of empathy - that is, a response to experiences that are clear to the client  manner, non-verbal and verbal.
4.    Receiving empathy - the client feels that he has been understood, which gives birth to a new  meaning and emotional relief.
5.      Feedback - demonstration  the result of the psychotherapist's empathy. If empathy has taken place, then it deepens  the therapy process, and if not, it leads to the experience of aggression, loneliness  and the desire to convey experiences so that the client feels heard.  The client relaxes, as a rule, begins  breathing more deeply are indirect signs that empathy was correct.
The empathic response should be congruent with  body language. This is important because the client's body language and non-verbal reactions  believes more.
Some clients do not want to be understood - this happens  for fear of reliving the pain of rejection. That is, they are afraid of contact  with painful processing of past trauma.
I hope this article helped you better understand the mechanism  and the process of empathy.
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