Abstract
The difficulty in comprehending the epistemology of empathy lies in shifting paradigms which have resulted in empathy being viewed as vague and elusive. Such elusive understanding of empathy has confused research, practice, and advancement of therapeutic principles. Empathy is the core of all social and intellectual transformation. Humankind is biologically programmed to use empathy for survival, health, and well-being. Pursuing and understanding empathy frees human capacity for wisdom. Studying the epistemology of empathy is operationally and scientifically relevant in the synthesis of an empathic practice theory. Clear epistemic definition and neuroscience provide the foundation for an expanding discovery of rational frameworks for a clinician’s empathic training and teaching. A clinician’s empathic ability requires competency in reflective, global, affective, cognitive, and interpersonal perspective-taking. Once understood, renewed curriculum for teaching and training are recommended that would produce more finite outcomes. Epistemic review culminates in empathy skills training over the course of curricula at the undergraduate (BSW) and graduate (MSW) levels.
Highlights
The difficulty in comprehending the epistemology of empathy lies in shifting paradigms which have resulted in empathy being viewed as vague and elusive
If empathy is so necessary to human survival, why the apparent lack of urgency in understanding, analyzing, and developing effective training models? This article provides an epistemic review of literature on empathy to argue for better training
The outcomes of empathy competency could be evaluated with the grading system, within practice behavior rubrics, with a pre- and post-class survey, or with tools like those provided by Davis (1980), Carkhuff (2009), or evaluations from structured training manuals
Summary
Carl Rogers has been the social work standard-bearer for empathy application. Rogers (1951/2003) offered early philosophies on empathy as a part of humanism that supported growth and transformation through genuine, positive regard. In 1975, Rogers clarified empathy as an action of the therapist’s voluntarily surrendering into another’s perceptual world with the sensitivity to experience emotions of the other, moment by moment, without succumbing to the emotion or judgment of the other. During this action process, the therapist is able to move the client from a discovery of meaning to a fuller experience (Gendlin, 1962; Gerdes, Segal, & Lietz, 2010; Rogers, 1975). Rogers saw the process of this empathy interaction as a growth experience, for the client, but for the social work clinician as well (Gerdes & Segal, 2011)
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