How Do Clients Make Empathy Work? / Wie lassen Klientinnen und Klienten Empathie wirksam werden? / ¿Cómo hacen los consultantes para que la empatía sea efectiva?

AbstractTypical views of therapy are therapist-centric. Therapists and their interventions are portrayed as operating on client processes to create change. Some writers on client-centered therapy portray empathy responses as interventions designed to focus clients on feelings, access feelings or experience, deepen processing, and so on. An alternative to therapist-centric perspectives is offered. Clients are seen as active change agents who extract patterns of meaning from the therapy interaction, deduce implications, and use therapist empathy responses for purposes of self-support, validation, exploring experience, testing self-understanding, creating new meaning, and making connection with the therapist.