A Critical Review of the Conceptualization of Empathy: Toward a Deeper Understanding for Clinical Social Work Practice

This article focuses on the definition and application of empathy in psychotherapy to strengthen clinical social work ’s understanding of the concept and improve consistency in how it is applied in clinical practice, psychotherapy, and research. We conducted a critical review of the conceptual and empirical literature to understand the meaning of empathy and its relation to other components of the helping relatio nship. Based on this review, we identified that there was lack of consensus regarding how empathy is defined and how it has been operationalized in research. This review also indicated the need to delineate empathy from closely related constructs (e.g., the therapeutic alliance) and focus on frequen tly overlooked empathy subdomains (e.g., fantasy) to enhance clinical social work practice.
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research