Premium
The Role Of Empathy in Brief Therapy: The Overlooked but Vital Context
Author(s) -
Turnell Andrew,
Lipchik Eve
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.297
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1467-8438
pISSN - 0814-723X
DOI - 10.1111/j.0814-723x.1999.00127.x
Subject(s) - empathy , realm , psychology , psychotherapist , context (archaeology) , perception , project commissioning , simulation theory of empathy , social psychology , publishing , political science , history , archaeology , neuroscience , law
Brief therapy is widely perceived to be a very technique oriented and outcome focused endeavour, with limited interest in the fluidity of the relationship between the therapist and client. This perception exists despite the absolute priority brief therapy has always placed on building a cooperative relationship between therapist and client. Certainly, the brief therapy tradition has almost completely avoided talking about ‘empathy’ and the emotional realm, almost as if it is inappropriate for a brief therapist to discuss them. This paper suggests firstly that brief therapy is enhanced, rather than diminished, by engaging with both empathy and affect, and secondly, that the conception and practice of empathy can itself be enhanced by the rich tradition of skills and experience that brief therapy offers. Case material is used throughout this paper to illustrate the authors’ views.