Dangers of over empathising

Dangers of e precise(prenominal)where empathisingDiscussionThis naming will test to discuss the importance of empathizing during the counselling exchange and focus on pointing out the dangers of everyplace empathising as well as discuss how these dangers scum bag be avoided. Before analysing the problems that occur when the healer over empathizes, I will try to stress the importance of empathy within the lymph gland therapist relationship.When referring to the term empathy we think up the cap index to sh ar and appreciate some star elses emotions and feelings. It is often referred to as the ability to put one self into anothers shoes, or in some government agency experience what the other person is feeling, (Ekman, 1999). Empathising with patients should be the starting point for improving the customer therapist relationship and the counselling exchange and cultivate. Empathy has always been a signifi senst characteristic of psychoanalytic treatment. It is the inherin g healing factor as well as the basis of data collection in psychoanalysis, (Plutchik, 1980). correct though empathy is vital in psychoanalytic, self- mental, and customer centred therapies, its main purpose is seen as different within all(prenominal) therapeutic method, (Nicoll, W.G. 1999). With client centred therapy, the most most-valuable role of empathy is to generate a specific kind of acquisition experience where clients exist and relate to themselves in a different way. In particular, the purpose is to assist plenty in developing the skill of learning and point them how to use experiential referents in making every day decisions. With psychoanalysis, empathy is a key that assists the therapist in developing insight into the clients unconscious dynamics. With self psychological therapy, empathy works as a way to strengthen self-structure. Even though these functions are different, they can coexistRogerian therapyAccording to Rogerian therapy, the therapist enters the clients world. Within this unique world the therapist neither agrees or disagrees. and does not attempt to look into the subconscious, the unconscious or point out contradictions, (Rogers 1977). Instead, therapy is seen as a process of freezing the one-on-one and taking away obstacles and barriers in order for normal growth and development to occur which would eventually get out in the clients independence, (Moses, I. 1988). Within the process of therapy the client passes on from rigidly of self perception to fluidity. For this to happen the therapist must be completely genuine and must have positive attitude towards the client and show empathic understanding, (Shaffer, 1978). A fundamental scarcely also tricky in respect to the amount of empathy towards the client is keeping positive attitude towards the client. This demands from the therapist to relate to the client as a person to a person and not as a scientist to an object of study, (Cornelius, 1996).In the context of thera py, empathy is characterised and expressed by examine a persons facial expressions, studying the body movements , and by active listening, by hearing their tone of voice, (Haase Tepper, 1972). Rogers (1975) accentuate on the therapist sensing the clients inner experiencing and communicating something about this understanding posterior to the person. In this regard, empathy involves a commitment to grasp the internal state of an individual as accurately as possible (Cochran Cochran, 2006). It is the keep up inter in the flesh(predicate) stance of the therapist in perceiving and responding to the private meanings of the client that is central to the healing and change process (Barret Lennard, 1976 Rogers, 1975 Bennet, 2001). In order for an empathic response of a therapist to affect a client, it must be expressed or made visible in some form (Barret Lennard, 1993).Although empathic acknowledgment whitethorn involve some form of stimulation in the therapist (the empathiser), th e therapist should not adopt or experience this feeling as their own, instead they should locate the feeling in the other person. Otherwise the therapist whitethorn experience an emotional atmosphere or even that the emotions displayed belong to all the parties involved or else than just to the client, (Moses, I. 1988). As Rogers pointed out it is crucial that the therapist is able to perceive the experience of a person, besides without losing the as if the counsellor were the client (Rogers, 1957).It is said that, in therapy, it is essential for a practitioner to avoid allowing conflictive personal issues to interfere with the counselling relationship (Boy Pine, 1982). On the other hand however, if the therapist maintains only an emotionally irrelevant level of engagement with the client, communications and understandings that are forthcoming from an experiential mode of empathy may be superfluous or precluded, (Olinick, S. L. 1969).At this point it is crucial to point out tha t although empathy is important it can be a very difficult issue for m some(prenominal) therapists, (Moses, 1988). This is because therapists are very vulnerable to an excessive level of acknowledgement with another individual when personal issues and conflicts are unresolved and subject to merging with the material of the client. Feeling in addition much can easily complicate things and rush it difficult to treat the patient in a completely objective manner. Being too empathic may also result in the therapist in a sense picking up attributes of the patients physical and mental disease. When over empathising the therapist may feel disempowered and it may then become very difficult for the therapist to feel relaxed, centred and rooted which is a basic requirement when attempting to treat someone,When the therapist over -empathises with the client he is in a way reproducing the physiological state of the client in his own system, (Davis, M. H. 1996). This can make therapy a dangero us chase as there are forbid emotions involved, which leave the therapist in risk of exposing him or her self directly to the clients prejudicial experience of the problem which could be depression, anxiety, suicidal tendencies and many more. By exposing himself directly and without borders to the clients negative state, the therapist is not helping himself, the client or the process of therapy. However, by empathising with the client in a conscious and appropriate manner it can work as a healthy protective chemical mechanism which shields the therapist when emergencyed, EmpathyEmpathy is not the act of getting lost in the clients state. If this happens, the therapist will be pulled overmatch with the client when the client is drowning and consequently will not be able to provide any help,A sensible definition of empathy is to sense the clients private world as if it were your own, but without ever losing the as if fibre this is empathy and it seems essential to therapy. To sense the clients anger, fear, or perplexity as if it were your own, yet without your own anger, fear or confusion getting bound up in it. (Rogers)As Rogers states, empathising with the client in the way described can assist the client way more than just the positive feeling of being accepted and tacitWhen the clients world is clear to the therapist, and he moves about in it freely, then he can both give his understanding of what is clearly known to the client and can also voice meanings in the clients experience of which the client is scarcely aware.This way the therapist and the client can move forward together, step by step, trice by instant touching areas of experience which are within the client and affect his or her life, but for some or many reasons is difficult to access, therefore is not open to understanding, acceptance or change, (Myers, S. 2000).Therapists need to keep in mind that counselling is not just talking things over (as they do in their everyday life with fr iends), but a more formal kind in which there are two very different roles, the counsellor does not generally talk about them self or try to rescue the client as they would do with a friend because by doing this there is a danger of over-empathizing with the client and losing a clear sense of being separate people, (Eisenberg, N., Strayer, J. 1987)In terms of the electrical capacity of therapy, there is a need for the therapist to constantly look out for the influence they may be experiencing from the client. Therapists need to question all their own assumptions and beliefs through reading, consciousness-raising, and through self examination. This requires a ruthless honesty that can be painful as well as exhilarating. Only when counsellors have gone through this themselves can they genuinely help their client and not become to attached or over-empathize.Ultimately it is important that therapists work with and acknowledge all aspects of their clients and themselves that are bene ath and above the form visible to our eyes, (Myers, S. 2000). They need to be able to tune into the level on which they can see the human soul in drive of them without being distracted by their theories and self beliefs. However it is important for therapists to distinguish the difference amidst understanding and empathy.SympathySympathy is often confused with empathy as both conceptions are viewed as passing on a sense of caring or compassion. In therapy however, there are clear differences between these aspects that can either potentially delay or increase the treatment process, (Lang, J.A. 1994). The primary intent of empathy is to understand a person and the focus of sympathy is the well-being of an individual (Black, 2004). In practice, if a client expresses emotional distress, a counsellor employing an empathic stance tries to understand the individuals functioning and convey a sense of the experience back to the person. In contrast, if a therapist sympathetically responds to a clients distress, he or she may attempt to gentle the clients plight, (Lang, J.A. 1994).With sympathy, a practitioners indistinguishability may begin to merge with a clients feelings and situation (Kalisch, 1973). As the psychological boundaries between the client and therapist blur, and the sharing of feelings intensifies, the expectation that a counsellor will be able to embrace an objective or detached perspective becomes more remote. A manifest pattern of similarity with a clients behaviour may indicate the operation of appellative as a defense mechanism on the part of a counsellor (Clark, 1998a). In contrast to sympathy, empathy implies a sense of detachment and separateness. A practitioners identity is maintained except for momentary periods of active resonance with a client (Schlesinger, H.J. 1981). With empathy a counsellor directs wariness more to the needs and issues of a client and attempts to maintain a focus on the individuals perspectives.As mentioned previous ly, identification and projection represent defence mechanisms that can distort a therapists ability to communicate and maintain an empathic posture with a client. The defences relate to conflictive issues and a therapists functioning that emerge during threatening interactions in treatment. Counter-transference is another get to with origins in the psychoanalytic persuasion, and relates specifically to unresolved conflicts of a therapist that potentially have a negative impact in the therapy process (Rud, C. 1993). Because it involves distortion of perceptual functioning, counter transference results in the diminished ability of therapists to focus on the needs of a client.At this point it is safe to argue that over-empathising is similar to sympathising in a way. Empathy is clearly different to sympathy. Sympathy suggests feeling sorry for the other person or, perhaps, identifying with how the other person feels. If one sympathises, they imagine them self as being in the other pe rsons position and how doing so would make them feel. This results in not being able to have a clear view of the problem and therefore not being able to offer an objective point of view as a therapist. if one empathises, however, they try to imagine how it is to be the other person which means that feeling sorry for him/her does not very come into the issue, allowing the therapist to be a disposition towards the client, and allowing the client to express them self fully. Therapists should be very cautious so as to avoid being too sensitive to the clients emotions, and to avoid over-investing their own emotions, as this may have an effect on them and drain away their own originality, creativity and resourcefulness. In any therapeutic condition an understanding of the borders and limitations of empathic accurateness is fundamental. It is important for the counsellor to always remember that it is the client in the end who will find his own way through, and will find his own idiosyncra tic answers to his problems in living and that the counsellor is there to assist and guide him through.