Consider the following statements about the therapist's understanding of a client:
(A) In sympathy, one has compassion and pity towards the suffering of another but is not able to feel like the other person.
(B) Intellectual understanding is warm in the sense that the person feels sympathy but is unable to feel like the other person.
(C) Empathy means understanding things from the other person's perspective, i.e. putting oneself in the other person's shoes.
(D) Empathy enriches the therapeutic relationship and transforms it into a contractual relationship.
How many of the above statements are correct?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Only two
(A) In sympathy, one has compassion and pity towards the suffering of another but is not able to feel like the other person. — Correct. Sympathy is feeling pity and compassion for another person's suffering, without feeling as that person feels.
(B) Intellectual understanding is warm in the sense that the person feels sympathy but is unable to feel like the other person. — Incorrect. Intellectual understanding is cold: the person neither feels like the other person nor feels sympathy.
(C) Empathy means understanding things from the other person's perspective, i.e. putting oneself in the other person's shoes. — Correct. Empathy is seeing the situation from the other person's point of view, as if standing in their shoes.
(D) Empathy enriches the therapeutic relationship and transforms it into a contractual relationship. — Incorrect. Empathy turns the therapeutic relationship into a healing relationship. Being contractual is one of the two components of the therapeutic alliance, and empathy does not create it.
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