Person-Centered Psychotherapies (Theories of Psychotherapy) by David J. Cain

Author:David J. Cain
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781433807220
Publisher: American Psychological Association
Published: 2012-05-24T21:00:00+00:00

The Varieties of Empathy

In this section I will identify some of the various forms empathy might take. Silent listening often has a comforting effect on clients, allowing them to say what’s on their mind in their own pace and manner. Cindy was a client who wanted me to listen without responding while she told me the entire story of her marriage and divorce. And so I did, for several weeks, carefully recording everything she said. Later, we returned to her story and processed the experience in detail. In an evaluation of my therapy with her, she described me as a “fantastic listener.” Intent and patient listening is a form of attending to or ministering to another. This is an involved form of listening, not a passive one, that is often therapeutic in and of itself. The primary limitations of silent empathy are that therapists do not give their clients a response to interact with, nor do clients know if they have truly been understood.

Empathic understanding responses are the staple of the person-centered therapist in that they attempt to grasp and accurately communicate the client’s basic message. This is the fundamental or basic form of empathy upon which more complex forms of empathy are built. These deceptively simple responses often lead clients to explore further what is currently present for them. They help set in motion and sustain clients’ attention to relevant aspects of their experience.

C: I am just dragging today

T: Just no energy for anything.

C: No, I just feel like staying home and avoiding everything I have to do.

Clarification is a form of empathy in which the therapist articulates clearly what the client is attempting to say, struggling to find words for, or expresses in a vague way. It brings into focus what the client means. Using a musical metaphor, it is as if the client hits a note off key and the therapist hits the right note. The client experiences a “ring of truth” and clarity.

C: I’m really out of sorts.

T: You seem angry.

C: I guess I am. Nothing is going right today!

Affective empathy focuses on the client’s emotion or bodily felt sense of a problem. It goes beyond the content of the client’s messages and articulates the feeling that is expressed or implied.

C: I just can’t believe my mother is dead.

T: You’re feeling sad and lost that she’s no longer with you.

C: Terribly.

Explorative empathy uses a probing and tentative style as the therapist attempts to assist the client to locate, explore, unfold, examine, and reflect on unclear or hidden aspects of experience. The exploration might take the form or broadening or deepening the clients’ understandings of their realities.

C: I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I feel anxious about my upcoming wedding to Jim.

T: So there’s some vague sense of doubt or fear about marrying Jim?

C: Yes. Like I’m not sure that he and I have the same hopes for our life together.

Evocative empathic responses are designed to heighten, make more vivid, amplify, and bring to life clients’ experiences.

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