"Empathy is best understood as a complex construct consisting of a variety of experiences and acts used in different ways by therapists of different orientations for different purposes. The clearest operational definition of empathy is Barrett-Lennard's (1981) delineation of the three different components and perspectives of empathy:
that of the therapist's experience ("empathic resonance"),
the observers' view ("expressed empathy"),
and the client's experience ("received empathy"),
organized into a sequential process model."
From:
Psychotherapy Volume 38/Winter 2001/Number 4
LESLIE S. GREENBERG - York University
JEANNE C. WATSON - University of Toronto
ROBERT ELLIOTT - University of Toledo
Arthur C. Bohart - Saybrook Graduate School and Research Institute
Abstract
"After defining empathy, discussing its measurement, and offering an example of empathy in practice, we present the results of an updated meta-analysis of the relation between empathy and psychotherapy outcome. Results indicated that empathy is a moderately strong predictor of therapy outcome: "
References
BARRETT-LENNARD, G. (1981). The empathy cycle: Refinement of a nuclear concept. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 28, 91-100.