title: The role of empathy in promoting change.
abstract: Since Rogers identified empathy as an important variable in therapy, it has been found to be a consistent predictor of client change; less clear is how this occurs. The objective in this study was to test a mediation model to determine whether clients' self-reported experience of therapists' empathy contributed to changes in their attachment styles and treatment of self, after 16 weeks of psychotherapy for depression. There was a significant direct relationship between therapists' empathy and outcome and a significant indirect effect, showing that clients' perceptions of therapists' empathy was associated with significant improvement in attachment insecurity and significant decreases in negative self-treatment at the end of therapy as well as reductions on BDI, IIP, DAS and SCL-90-R, GSI, and increases on RSE. The findings suggest that clients' perception of their therapists as empathic is an important mechanism of change in psychotherapy that warrants further investigation.
authors.affiliation: a Applied Psychology and Human Development , OISE/University of Toronto , Toronto , Ontario , Canada.
authors.forename: Jeanne C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: Patricia L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Steckley
authors.forename: Evelyn J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: McMullen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult