Empathy - understanding through putting oneself in the place of someone

Journal/Book: Cesk Psychol. 1998; 42: Publ House Czech Acad Sci, Vodickova 40, Prague 1, Czech Republic 112 29. Academia. 42-49.

Abstract: Empathy (understanding through putting oneself in the place of someone) is defined as the way of learning to know another individual, the way carried by feelings that is presented by the willingness and the effort to perceive, pick up and understand his/her topical and potential inner world with all subjective meanings and feelings as accurate as possible. It has the basis in the intuition accompanied by the emotional participation and the positive interest in the other human. The process of empathy passes in three steps that are mutually overlapping: we enter the subjectivity of another individual, we experience together, and it comes to the understanding the other in the end. The empathy can be deduced from the phylogenesis, it is biologically anchored and in the course of life of human individual (the ontogenetic approach) it is developed in the social context analogous to the other abilities. It counts to the general effective psychotherapy factors, it affects the patient directly and indirectly in the psychotherapeutic relation (in the framework of hermeneutic process). Nowadays, these problems are most worked out by Rogersian and psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

Note: Article Vymetal J, Univ Karlova, Lekarske Fak 1, Ustavu Pro Humanitni Studia Lekarstvi, Karlovo 40, Prague 12800 2, CZECH REPUBLIC

Keyword(s): empathy; intuition; psychoanalytic psychotherapy; Rogersian psychotherapy; effective psychotherapy factors

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