Empathy And Counseling: Person Centered Therapy
Empathy and Counseling
For this paper I will be discussing the steps of empathy and what it means to be empathetic to patients and people. I watched a short video by Carl Rogers called “Person Centered Therapy” in this video there was a lot of incite as to how a professional is supposed to interact not only to his/her patients but to the people around them. I will be reviewing a few peer reviewed articles regarding empathy and be discussing my thoughts on them, in addition to this I took a day to put the steps that I learned to work regarding empathy and I will share my thoughts on the outcome.
Literature Review Subjective empathy enables a counselor to momentarily experience what it is like to be a client, interpersonal empathy relates to understanding a client 's phenomenological experiencing, and objective empathy uses reputable knowledge sources outside of a client 's frame of reference. Across the counseling process, empathy is integral to treatment strategies and interventions (Clark, 2010). In the counseling and Psychotherapy literature, empathy has been identified as crucial to successful outcomes. (Gladstein, 1983). …show more content…
It appears that various definitions of empathy are based to some extent on the theories of psychotherapy from which they are derived.
For example, in a cognitive—behavioral theory empathy is defined as a process that fosters a collaborative alliance; in a humanistic theory empathy is sensing another person 's feelings as if one were that other person. In a psychodynamic theory, empathy is defined as experiencing the inner life of another while retaining objectivity argued that empathy is more an internal condition, a characteristic that depends on qualities intrinsic to one 's personality rather than a communication skill (Carlozzi,
2002).
All of the articles that I reviewed had a lot of information on what it is to be empathetic to your patients and how to interact with patients in an empathetic manner. Science has figured out that being kind to people and trying to understand where they are coming from is a good way to get people to trust in you. Empathy is a pretty simple way to interact with people. Being kind and caring will go a long way with people.
Community Observation I would like to think that having empathy is a quality that I have on a daily basis, but today it seemed a bit different I think that it is because I was aware of what it was that I was doing. On a daily basis I just listen to friends, family and coworkers talk about their daily lives. Some talk about struggles while others talk about the good things. I generally just listen and try not to relate of give feedback. Sometimes I get lost in them talking I am not sure what it is that I should say to them without taking the risk of sounding judgmental in any way towards them. Today was different because I tried to engage in the conversation with a different approach and had techniques in my mind that I needed to follow such as self-disclosure, immediacy, hope and humor. I don’t think that I encountered a lot of restrictions, I do however think that it was weird to people that instead of me just listening I gave feed back to them and was more active in the conversations. When we talked I tried to speak of times that I was in a similar situation and how I handled it. I think that I was helpful for them to hear from someone else who could relate and give feedback as to how they dealt with their situation. I think that everyone was more receptive to me when I interacted with conversation versus the usual just listening. I think that they felt more comfortable speaking to me and seemed to have more trust in me with the feeling that I was listening to them and what it was that they had to say. I really tried to be real with the person during our conversations and tried to be empathetic to these situations. I think that some of the limitations that will be hard when utilizing these techniques will be the judgmental factor. Sometimes listening to people’s stories can be annoying because they are not understanding why things are the way they are, they also do not understand that if it something they could change then they should try. I also felt that the self-disclosing aspect was hard to do, especially in the work place. For me I don’t like to be too open with people about my life and my situations. I felt that you also have to be careful not to make the conversation about you. The focus needs to stay on the patient and the struggles that they are having. Being a non-professional at this time I think that will be something that I will have to work on. Sometimes it is easy to make something about you when you are sharing how it was that you dealt with the situation. I think the strength of being empathetic with patients is the trust and caring factor. Letting someone know that you care about them and you are hearing what they are saying can go a long ways. A strong form of trust can be built in the professional relationship and I feel like the patient will be more open about the issues they may be having. This can make the treatment process for productive because they are being open and honest with the counselor about how it is they are feeling.
Discussion
Being empathetic can create so many different levels to any kind of relationship. I think that when it comes to a professional relationship it becomes one of the most important aspects of your job. I have had a lot of counselors in my life and some I felt comfortable with while others I did not. The ones that were genuinely empathic to me were the ones that I stuck with the longest. I think that there is a fine line in saying you know what someone is going through verses trying to understand where someone is coming from. Being empathetic to someone else’s story is just trying to understand there pain and sorrow. When I think of empathy I think of compassionate love and the way you treat people when they are telling you their fears and issues they are facing in their life. To be a counselor you have to be empathic all the way to the end of your sessions. You have to make sure you are using your words in a positive way and not a negative way. You have to make the patient always feel like they are important and you are hearing and either understanding or trying to understand the position that they are in.
References
Carlozzi, A. F. (2002). Empathy theory and practice: A survey of psychologists and counselors. Journal Of Psychology: Interdisciplinary And Applied, 161-170.
Clark, A. J. (2010). Empathy: An integral model in the counseling process. Journal Of Counseling & Development, 348-356.
Gladstein, G. A. (1983). Understanding empathy: Integrating counseling, developmental, and social psychology perspectives. Journal Of Counseling Psychology, 467-482.
For this paper I will be discussing the steps of empathy and what it means to be empathetic to patients and people. I watched a short video by Carl Rogers called “Person Centered Therapy” in this video there was a lot of incite as to how a professional is supposed to interact not only to his/her patients but to the people around them. I will be reviewing a few peer reviewed articles regarding empathy and be discussing my thoughts on them, in addition to this I took a day to put the steps that I learned to work regarding empathy and I will share my thoughts on the outcome.
Literature Review Subjective empathy enables a counselor to momentarily experience what it is like to be a client, interpersonal empathy relates to understanding a client 's phenomenological experiencing, and objective empathy uses reputable knowledge sources outside of a client 's frame of reference. Across the counseling process, empathy is integral to treatment strategies and interventions (Clark, 2010). In the counseling and Psychotherapy literature, empathy has been identified as crucial to successful outcomes. (Gladstein, 1983). …show more content…
It appears that various definitions of empathy are based to some extent on the theories of psychotherapy from which they are derived.
For example, in a cognitive—behavioral theory empathy is defined as a process that fosters a collaborative alliance; in a humanistic theory empathy is sensing another person 's feelings as if one were that other person. In a psychodynamic theory, empathy is defined as experiencing the inner life of another while retaining objectivity argued that empathy is more an internal condition, a characteristic that depends on qualities intrinsic to one 's personality rather than a communication skill (Carlozzi,
2002).
All of the articles that I reviewed had a lot of information on what it is to be empathetic to your patients and how to interact with patients in an empathetic manner. Science has figured out that being kind to people and trying to understand where they are coming from is a good way to get people to trust in you. Empathy is a pretty simple way to interact with people. Being kind and caring will go a long way with people.
Community Observation I would like to think that having empathy is a quality that I have on a daily basis, but today it seemed a bit different I think that it is because I was aware of what it was that I was doing. On a daily basis I just listen to friends, family and coworkers talk about their daily lives. Some talk about struggles while others talk about the good things. I generally just listen and try not to relate of give feedback. Sometimes I get lost in them talking I am not sure what it is that I should say to them without taking the risk of sounding judgmental in any way towards them. Today was different because I tried to engage in the conversation with a different approach and had techniques in my mind that I needed to follow such as self-disclosure, immediacy, hope and humor. I don’t think that I encountered a lot of restrictions, I do however think that it was weird to people that instead of me just listening I gave feed back to them and was more active in the conversations. When we talked I tried to speak of times that I was in a similar situation and how I handled it. I think that I was helpful for them to hear from someone else who could relate and give feedback as to how they dealt with their situation. I think that everyone was more receptive to me when I interacted with conversation versus the usual just listening. I think that they felt more comfortable speaking to me and seemed to have more trust in me with the feeling that I was listening to them and what it was that they had to say. I really tried to be real with the person during our conversations and tried to be empathetic to these situations. I think that some of the limitations that will be hard when utilizing these techniques will be the judgmental factor. Sometimes listening to people’s stories can be annoying because they are not understanding why things are the way they are, they also do not understand that if it something they could change then they should try. I also felt that the self-disclosing aspect was hard to do, especially in the work place. For me I don’t like to be too open with people about my life and my situations. I felt that you also have to be careful not to make the conversation about you. The focus needs to stay on the patient and the struggles that they are having. Being a non-professional at this time I think that will be something that I will have to work on. Sometimes it is easy to make something about you when you are sharing how it was that you dealt with the situation. I think the strength of being empathetic with patients is the trust and caring factor. Letting someone know that you care about them and you are hearing what they are saying can go a long ways. A strong form of trust can be built in the professional relationship and I feel like the patient will be more open about the issues they may be having. This can make the treatment process for productive because they are being open and honest with the counselor about how it is they are feeling.
Discussion
Being empathetic can create so many different levels to any kind of relationship. I think that when it comes to a professional relationship it becomes one of the most important aspects of your job. I have had a lot of counselors in my life and some I felt comfortable with while others I did not. The ones that were genuinely empathic to me were the ones that I stuck with the longest. I think that there is a fine line in saying you know what someone is going through verses trying to understand where someone is coming from. Being empathetic to someone else’s story is just trying to understand there pain and sorrow. When I think of empathy I think of compassionate love and the way you treat people when they are telling you their fears and issues they are facing in their life. To be a counselor you have to be empathic all the way to the end of your sessions. You have to make sure you are using your words in a positive way and not a negative way. You have to make the patient always feel like they are important and you are hearing and either understanding or trying to understand the position that they are in.
References
Carlozzi, A. F. (2002). Empathy theory and practice: A survey of psychologists and counselors. Journal Of Psychology: Interdisciplinary And Applied, 161-170.
Clark, A. J. (2010). Empathy: An integral model in the counseling process. Journal Of Counseling & Development, 348-356.
Gladstein, G. A. (1983). Understanding empathy: Integrating counseling, developmental, and social psychology perspectives. Journal Of Counseling Psychology, 467-482.