"In sum, Rogers’ idea is that clients who receive empathic understanding will be better able to trust and understand themselves and make behavioral changes in positive directions. In Rogers’ view, no matter the wrong a client has done, he or she can still be accepted by the therapist as a worthy human being (Rogers, 1975)."
"Understanding or knowing is crucial to many conceptualizations of empathy (e.g., Barrett-Lennard, 1981; Berger, 1987; Davis, 1996; Holm, 2001; O’Hara, 1997). For instance, Davis (1996) argued that understanding as a result of perspective taking should be considered an aspect of empathy. Most researchers have considered empathy as some kind of understanding, which means that empathy provides the empathizer with some kind of knowledge.
Less clear and not at all agreed upon is the kind of knowledge empathy involves.
Experiential knowledge?
Cognitive knowledge?
Theoretical knowledge?
Emotional knowledge?
Researchers have used different terms such as
“understand” (Holm, 2001),
“feel” (e.g., Batson et al., 2002; Kohut, 1984),
“share” (e.g., Kohut, 1984; Schafer, 1959),
“experience” (e.g., Greenson, 1960; Kohut, 1984; Schafer, 1959),
“apprehend” (Eisenberg, 2002)
“comprehend” (Eisenberg, 2002; Schafer, 1959)
“be aware of” or
“imagine”,
“perceive” (e.g., Rogers, 1959),
“live in”, (e.g., Rogers, 1975) or
“sense” (e.g., Rogers, 1959) to denote the process taking place within the empathizer."