What is empathy? Main characteristics and their use in therapy

Content

• What is empathy?
• Basic forms of empathy according to Daniel Batson
• How empathy is generated
• Empathy in Therapy: Carl Rogers and the person -centered approach
  • References

What is empathy?

Over time, empathy has been described in different ways, some even metaphorically such as: "Put on the shoes of the other" or "see through your eyes"; It would be like having the ability to experience life as the other does, understanding his thoughts, feelings, emotions and meanings of reality.

It means feeling pain or pleasure as the other feels it, perceiving things in the same way, but without ever losing the recognition that it is a "as if", since we are not the same person. If this "as if" is lost, then we enter an unrealistic or recommended state of identification.

Basic forms of empathy according to Daniel Batson

The social psychologist Daniel Batson proposed eight different forms of "empathy", which are related to each other, but do not constitute several aspects of it:

1. Know the other person's internal state, including your thoughts and feelings. This can provide us with arguments to feel kindly to the other, without this being sufficient, or indispensable to generate an altruistic motivation. This means that one can be aware of what the other thinks or feels, and remain indifferent to his situation.
2. Motor and neuronal imitation: The fact of perceiving someone under a certain situation, leads our neuronal system to adopt an analogous state to yours, which generates a bodily and facial mimicry accompanied by sensations similar to those of the other person.
3. Emotional resonance: is to feel exactly how another person feels, be it a feeling of happiness or sadness. Although it is impossible to live exactly the same experience as someone, we can feel similar emotions.
4. Project intuitively in the situation of the other person. To be affected by what happens to someone else, it is not necessary to imagine all the details of your experience, just know that you suffer.
5. Create a very clear representation of the feelings of the other person Thanks to what she tells us, to what we observe and our knowledge about that person, about their values ​​and aspirations. Imagine how we could think and feel in the place of the other.
6. Imagine what we would feel if we were in the place of the other person, with our own character, Our aspirations and our worldview.
7. Suffering for empathy: What we feel when we witness or evoke the suffering of another person. This form of empathy can make us ignore the situation instead of assuming an altruistic attitude. Actually here Batson does not talk about worrying about the other person, or putting in his place, but of a personal anxiety generated by the other person. Unfortunately this feeling of suffering does not necessarily generate a reaction of kindness or an appropriate response to the person suffering. If the resonance with the suffering of the other person generates personal suffering, we must direct our attention to that person and reactivate our ability to express goodness and altruistic love.
8. Empathic kindness, which consists in taking awareness of the needs of others and feeling the sincere desire to help them. According to Daniel Batson, empathic kindness is the only response that is directed towards others and not towards ourselves, which is necessary and sufficient to produce an altruistic motivation.

Daniel Batson states that the first six forms of empathy can contribute to the creation of a altruistic motivation, But none of them guarantees that such motivation really arises, at most constitute its indispensable conditions. The seventh form, that of Suffering due to empathy is clearly against altruism. Only the last way, that is empathic kindness is necessary and sufficient for altruistic motivation to be born In us and incite us to action.

How empathy is generated

For be nice With another person several conditions are required. One is to enter the world of private perception of the other and be sensitive, moment by moment, of the feelings that flow in him or her, whether fear, anger, pain or confusion or whatever is experiencing. It means that somehow you live temporarily in the life of the other, moving inside delicately and without judgments; Understanding the conscious meanings of this person, but not trying to discover the most unconscious or deep feelings, since this would make it too threatening. Includes communication about his understanding of the world, consulting on his way of thinking and guiding himself for the answers that are received. It is about becoming a trusted partner so that the other let us enter in some way in his inner world.

Being in this way with the other person means that for a moment, We put aside our own points of view and values ​​in order to enter the world of the other person without prejudice. In a sense, this can only be done when the person feels safe enough of himself and recognizes that he is not going to be lost in the strange world of the other, and that he can return to his own world when he wishes.

As we see this description makes it clear that being empathetic is somewhat more complex, demanding, and strong of what it may seem initially, but it is also something and soft.

What is echopathy? EMPATHY EMPATHY

Empathy in Therapy: Carl Rogers and the person -centered approach

For humanist psychologist Carl Rogers this is an essential process in person -centered therapy, empathy is the most important quality in all forms of therapeutic listening. That means having to enter the world of the person who comes for therapy (usually called the client) so that that person feels accepted and understood. Two things are important in this process:

1. That empathy is precise, and
2. That the client knows that we are empathizing with him or her.

Both are skills that can be learned, and make a big difference in the relationship between the client and the counselor or the therapist.

The second quality is authenticity. If with empathy it is about listening to the client, with authenticity it is about listening to ourselves, if we really tune in and are aware of everything that is happening inside us. It means being open to our own experiences, without denying them or separating them from us. Authenticity is even more difficult than empathy, since it implies a lot of self-knowledge, that in reality it is only obtained by passing through self-therapy in a complete and deep way, to get to show us sincerely and genuinely.

The third quality is non -possessive acceptance. This means that the client can feel received in a human way, that he does not feel threatened in any way. In this atmosphere of trust you can develop true confidence, and the person can feel able to open up to their own experiences and their own feelings.

References

• Rogers, c. R. (1981). The process of becoming a person. Barcelona: Paidós Editorial.
• Batson, c. D. (2011). Altruism in humans. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• Krznaric, r. (2015). EMPATHY: Why is it important, and how to develop it. Barcelona: Salamandra Editions.