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P. McCarthy Veach et al., Facilitating the Genetic Counseling Process,
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4.1 Definition of Empathy
Empathy is the vicarious experiencing of another person’s feelings and situation
and an ability to communicate one’s understanding of another’s feelings and experi-
ence. Empathy involves the capacity to put yourself in another person’s place to
understand from her or his frame of reference (Bellet and Maloney 1991 ). When
you are engaged empathically, you enter into patients’ worlds to feel with them
rather than for them and to think with them rather than for or about them (Chung
and Bemak 2002 ). Empathy forms the very basis of all human interactions (Duan
and Hill 1996 ), it is an essential condition within Carl Rogers’ person-centered
approach to counseling, and it is a hallmark of the Reciprocal-Engagement Model
(REM) of genetic counseling practice (McCarthy Veach et al. 2007).
The psychological literature contains varied definitions of empathy. Most authors
emphasize two major dimensions: empathic emotions (having an affective reaction
that is in tune with the patient’s experience) and intellectual empathy (engaging in
role-taking or perspective-taking) (Bellet and Maloney 1991 ; Duan and Hill 1996 ;
Gladstein 1983 ). In medical literature “clinical empathy” is a commonly used term,
and it refers to both a skill and a process (VandenLangenberg 2012 ). In genetic
counseling, “Empathic communication includes timing and selection of biomedical
information that is relevant to the patient’s situations and provision of this informa-
tion in ways that the patient can understand. Empathic communication also indi-
Chapter 4
Listening to Patients: Primary Empathy
Skills
Learning Objectives- Define primary empathy and its functions in genetic counseling.
- Distinguish between different types of primary empathy responses.
- Develop primary empathy skills through self-reflection, practice, and
feedback.