title: Is low therapist empathy toxic?
abstract: One of the largest determinants of client outcomes is the counselor who provides treatment. Therapists often vary widely in effectiveness, even when delivering standardized manual-guided treatment. In particular, the therapeutic skill of accurate empathy originally described by Carl Rogers has been found to account for a meaningful proportion of variance in therapeutic alliance and in addiction treatment outcomes. High-empathy counselors appear to have higher success rates regardless of theoretical orientation. Low-empathy and confrontational counseling, in contrast, has been associated with higher drop-out and relapse rates, weaker therapeutic alliance, and less client change. The authors propose emphasis on empathic listening skills as an evidence-based practice in the hiring and training of counselors to improve outcomes and prevent harm in addiction treatment.
authors.affiliation: Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Addictions (CASAA), Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico.
authors.forename: Theresa B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Moyers
authors.forename: William R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D003376:Counseling / Q000193:education / Q000379:methods*; D004645:Empathy; D006801:Humans; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D013811:Psychotherapeutic Processes; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome