Empathy reconsidered: New directions in psychotherapy.

Abstract

ARTHUR C. BOHART and LESLIE S. GREENBERG, Editors Empathy Reconsidered: New Directions in Psychotherapy Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press, 1997, xv + 477 pp. (ISBN 1-55798-410-7, Us$49.95, Hardcover) Reviewed by DEREK TRUSCOTT Are psychotherapists technicians? Should we be trained to apply empirically supported treatments? Those who champion therapeutic technology (e.g., Hunsley, Dobson, Johnston, & Mikail, 1999) think so. This despite the fact that 30 years and hundreds of research studies (Orlinsky, Grawe, & Parks, 1994) have failed to produce empirical support for their assumption that some interventions should be more helpful for some kinds of persons with some kinds of problems (Paul, 1967) . If one actually approaches psychotherapy research empirically, one cannot help but conclude that when two or more people interact with at least one intending to help the other, the recipient fares better than he or she would have otherwise. This may not appear to be a particularly profound conclusion given the enormous amounts of time and money that have been expended to arrive at it. It is, however, an empirically valid conclusion. And it gives rise to a tremendously interesting and eminently researchable question: How does psychotherapy work? A young adult male client struggles to find his place in the world. He wants to belong to the social group of his peers, yet does not feel comfortable or particularly accepted by them. Do you want to be like them? his therapist asks. The client experiences the question as a revelation. It feels just perfectly right: congruent and supportive, yet at the same time at the ragged edge of his world view. He is able to move on in his life. A older male client is paralyzed by regret over his relationship with his son who is now an adult and estranged from him. The therapist uses guided imagery incorporating soothing images provided by the client. As the therapist guides the client through these images, he experiences an understanding of the client's regret and spontaneously incorporates process proposals that the client finds intensely productive. The therapist is at a loss to explain where he got his inspiration. These are examples of goosebump moments in psychotherapy where the client and therapist are deeply engaged in a process that prompts significant progress. Each of them involves a process event that most would call empathy. But what, exactly, do we mean by empathy? And what role does it play in how psychotherapy works? These are the questions that Arthur Bohart and Leslie Greenberg address in their edited book, Empathy Reconsidered. While definitive answers are not arrived at, the considerations have resulted in a book that ought to be required reading for anyone who wants to understand or practice psychotherapy. This is a book that should be read by graduate students in clinical or counselling psychology, psychotherapy researchers, and psychotherapists. It is not an easy read; it is definitely not a how-to manual. Rather, it is challenging and thought-provoking. The dedicated reader, however, will be rewarded. In some respects the reader may at first feel that the book does not hold together as an integrated whole. This, I think, is a by product of the chapters being organized by theoretical perspective (client-centred, experiential, psychoanalytic, and other), which is unfortunate. I think the book would have been better organized by topic, but this is really a superficial criticism. At a deeper level the book works to stimulate a questioning of our basic, often unconsidered, assumptions about what we do and why we do it when we attempt to practice psychotherapy. It incites the reader to explore the ragged edges of our conceptual framework for therapeutic practice. And it is at this level that the book rewards. Readers of a more applied bent may also be inclined to dismiss many of the chapters as too philosophical to be practical but, just as anyone who dares to try and catch a malingerer must read Lewis and Saarni's (1993) Lying and Deception in Everyday Life, exploring the broader base of a concept protects us from the errors caused by failing to see pitfalls that would otherwise be outside our view. …