Empathy and the counselling client

Written by listed counsellor/psychotherapist: Justin Lee Slaughter. PG Dip. MBACP. Humanistic Integrative Counsellor.

24th May, 20160 Comments

People come into counselling for unique and individual reasons. For example, Mary's experience of depression will be very different from June's experience of depression. One of the primary aims in counselling is to understand in a caring and considered way, which involves active listening, to understand as best we can an individual's world.

We can go through life never having felt very valued, heard, understood or accepted.
Others conditions, wishes, hopes, expectations can become muddled with our own. Our relationships don't always work out  as well as we may like them to. Even more importantly, our relationship with ourselves. People who care for us may see us as a projection of their needs and problems and likewise, we may do the same with others. In counselling it is therefore essential to offer something different, a specific relationship and environment in order that clients may realise and release their intrinsic worth. Central to this 'something different' is the attitude, skill and value of empathy.

Empathy is the ability to put one's self in another's shoes, following the client and their process in an attempt to actively engage, hear and sense something of their subjective world. Empathy is thus a focus on the individual and how they see themselves, how they experience the world.

Helping is dependent on understanding the client. In so doing we are attempting to convey our genuiness and acceptance, all of which as Rogers (1961) emphasises are necessary for growth and change. Many agree that empathy is a significant and crucial part of the therapeutic relationship. It is considered to be fundamental to therapeutic change, regardless of therapeutic orientation. It is said to help build trust and can also be viewed as an emotionally corrective experience, in that clients may remodel their way of relating and thinking about themselves in their intra and inter-relationships.

Both (Rogers; 1961 and Tolan; 2012) state that empathic listening is at the heart of the counsellors developing sensitivity to the client and their inner world. Both (Sanders; 2006 and Tolan; 2012) add that empathic understanding involves both a perception of something implicit and explicit (inner and outer) in the relationship and the ability to communicate this, through a reflective relationship and through checking the accuracy of our empathic understanding.

How can it help?

In short, empathy helps clients to feel understood, fully heard and can enable you to process things in a different way, helping to establish trusting and good therapeutic relationships. It can help with the development of your own self view and also with your ability to empathise with others.

References:

Sanders, P. (2006) The Person Centred Counselling Primer. Ross on Wye, PCCS Books.
Tolan, S. (2012) Skills in Person Centred Counselling and Psychotherapy. London, Sage.
Rogers, R. (1961) On becoming a person. London, Constable.