(GREENBERG + 2001)

"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:

EMPATHY

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.