The many faces of empathy in experiential, person-centered, collaborative assessment.
Paul Lerner was an amazing clinician and teacher, and he wrote that empathy was the "heart" of his particular approach to psychological assessment. In this article, I discuss 3 meanings of empathy: (a) as an information-gathering tool, (b) as an interpersonal process, and (c) as a healing element in human interactions. I then demonstrate how each of these meanings of empathy is exemplified in Lerner's written work and in collaborative and therapeutic assessment.
Finn
Stephen E
SE
Center for Therapeutic Assessment, Austin, Texas, USA. sefinn@mail.utexas.edu
D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004645:Empathy; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations