The power of empathy

Empathy is a fundamental key to understanding human relationships. It is a necessary experience in all helping professions, where the person providing care is in daily contact with the suffering of others and seeks to alleviate their pain.

Without empathy, the distance from the other person can become so wide as to compromise not only the help provided, but the very recognition of the other as a human being. The experiences of patients who feel treated like “numbers,” rather than as people, clearly show what happens when empathy is lacking in the relation helping relationship.

The psychological origins of the term

Psychological interest in the study of empathy has deep roots. Today the term is used in fields that are also very different from one another. The term “empathy” was coined by Titchener in 1909, as a translation of the German term Einfühlung (“feeling into”), already used in the second half of the nineteenth century in relation to aesthetic enjoyment.

Since the beginning of the last century, the term empathy has described that particular experience one has when “feeling within oneself” another person's emotion. Beyond its definition, it remains a complex psychological construct, in which emotional and cognitive levels are intertwined.

The four qualities of empathy

Empathy allows us to step into the shoes of others through four essential qualities:

• the ability to see things from the other person's point of view, recognizing that this is their reality;
• the suspension of judgment, which is not easy since we all tend to judge others' experiences;
• the recognition of the other person's emotion;
• the ability to give back and communicate.

A video to learn more

To remember the importance of empathy in everyday relationships, and particularly in helping professions, it can be helpful to watch the short animated video created by the RSA (Royal Society of the Arts) on the value of empathy, based on a TED Conference talk titled “The Power of Empathy” by Brené Brown, professor and researcher at the University of Houston, an expert in the study of human relationships.

Sentirsi capiti davvero è il primo effetto terapeutico: qui trovi come funziona un percorso di psychotherapy in Florence.