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Positive Empathy: A Therapeutic Skill Inspired by Positive Psychology
Author(s) -
Conoley Collie W.,
Pontrelli Marla E.,
Oromendia Mercedes Fernández,
Carmen Bello Beatriz Del,
Nagata Chelsea M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.22175
Subject(s) - empathy , psychology , session (web analytics) , psychotherapist , positive psychology , expression (computer science) , clinical psychology , social psychology , world wide web , computer science , programming language
Objective Positive empathy (PE), a type of empathy response that focuses on a client's hidden message of desire for a better life, was hypothesized to increase the expression of positive emotions, approach goals, and strengths, and to communicate equivalent understanding when compared to traditional empathy (TE). Method We examined 4 hypotheses in 2 studies. In study 1, college participants read therapy session vignettes incorporating PE or TE and then listed the client's strengths and goals and rated the therapist and how well they imagined themselves as the client in the vignettes. In study 2, therapist–client dyads attended 6 weekly sessions that incorporated both PE and TE, after which clients rated therapists’ level of empathic understanding and session observers rated clients’ emotional responses, revelations of strengths, and goals in response to empathy. Results In both studies, the results of PE and TE were similar, while PE elicited a greater number of approach goals. In study 2, clients expressed more strengths and positive emotions after PE responses than TE. Conclusion Our results support PE for enhancing client growth (i.e., when a client pursues approach goals, enlists strengths, and experiences positive emotions), which is consistent with the process of positive psychology‐informed psychotherapy