Empathy in Psychotherapy

Empathy in Psychotherapy

Empathy in psychotherapy as defined by Rogers is not only the therapist's perceiving of client's internal world as if he/she were in the position of the client, but also the therapist's communicating his/her perception as such to the client. It is generally believed that the empathy of the therapist is communicated to client in the form of 'reflection of client's feelings'. However, it is recalled that the empathy actually expressed by therapist is more on the side of clarifying and organizing the client's awareness, whether it is of feeling or cognition by nature. That is, empathy which aims to be therapeutic is more than the therapist's communicating his understanding of client's inner experience as such. From this line of reasoning, this paper presents some discussions on the concept of 'therapeutic empathy' as compared with that of psychodynamic interpretation.