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Empathy: a crucial component of the helping relationship
Author(s) -
Reynolds W. J.,
Scott B.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1365-2850
pISSN - 1351-0126
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2850.1999.00228.x
Subject(s) - empathy , psychology , interpersonal communication , context (archaeology) , distress , personal distress , social psychology , simulation theory of empathy , confusion , dimension (graph theory) , psychotherapist , biology , paleontology , mathematics , psychoanalysis , pure mathematics
The literature reviewed in this paper substantiates the widely held view that empathy is crucial to all forms of helping relationships. While most studies cited are more than a decade old, the relationship between empathy and helping remains unchallenged in the 1990s. Additionally, while there is confusion about whether empathy is a personality dimension, an experienced emotion, or an observable skill, it is shown that empathy involves an ability to communicate an understanding of a client’s world. Finally, a definition of empathy considered to be relevant to clinical nursing is introduced, which includes the need to understand clients’ distress, and to provide supportive interpersonal communication. It is argued that there is a need to revisit the role of empathy in the context of current health care delivery.