Caption: Aw, you look
so sad!
URL: https://pixabay.com/en/dog-weimaraner-portrait-1742295/
Empathy and Sympathy: A Therapeutic
Distinction
Empathy and sympathy are caring concepts that are sometimes
confused by counselors. It is important that we distinguish them from each
other in our practice as empathy has therapeutic implications, and sympathy
does not (Clark, 2010). Sympathy defined, are feelings towards or for someone, whereas
empathy is the ability to understand feelings in someone. Normally sympathy is
more synonymous with agreement or validation of how someone feels. From a
professional standpoint, this can lead to a desire to want to fix people, not
empowering the client, or even ethical issues such as dual relationships. Empathy,
on the other hand, can begin to help the client gain understanding that
empowers them to change (Meier & Davis, 2011). Empathy appraises the client
by showing attunement to their feelings, where sympathy would desire to share expressions
of feelings toward the client (Clark, 2010). Even a prominent statement like, “I’m
sorry you are feeling…,” is an expression of judgment or agreement. It does not
show the client that you are understanding them. A much better response would
be to reflect the feeling saying something as simple as, “I hear you are
feeling…” Clark (2010) on researching Carl Rogers also found that empathy may
come about in different ways. Empathy can be subjective, interpersonal, or
objective. Interpersonal empathy is the type we are most familiar with, with
the counselor trying to understand the phenomenological experience of the
client. Subjective empathy is special in that the counselor has experienced something
similar to the client and they are able to identify with the client. Objective
empathy is the use of sources, assessments, or other observable data from the
client that can help the counselor empathize better (Clark, 2010). As
counselors it is important to understand what empathy is and how it is used as
it is such an integral part to many counseling techniques and interventions.
References:
Clark, A. J. (2010). Empathy and sympathy: Therapeutic
distinctions in counseling. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 32(2),
95-101.
Clark, A. J. (2010). Empathy: An integral model in the
counseling process. Journal of Counseling and Development, 88(3),
348-356.
Meier, S. T., & Davis, S. R. (2011). The elements of counseling. Belmont, CA:
Cengage Learning.
Khalil,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! I appreciate the insight you provide by clarify the meaning of the two topics while providing the examples to demonstrate how to use both of them properly. I would agree with you the importance on demonstrating empathy to a client to allow a healthy trusting therapeutic relationship to prosper to allow the client the potential to grow into the person they desire. Thanks again!
Ben
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ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteKhal, first off, I love the picture of the Weimaraner! I wonder why he or she is so sad… Thank you for your post and describing the differences between empathy and sympathy. From your blog, it seems crucial that we use empathy in session, while avoiding sympathy. As you said, empathy promotes empowerment and autonomy, whereas sympathy demonstrates a sense of judgement or agreement. Being aspiring counselors, it is important that we begin to be intentional in our use of empathetic techniques. These techniques could be as simple as having the correct choice of words. For example, “I hear” versus “I’m sorry”. Thanks again for your post!