Somatic underpinnings of perceived empathy: The importance of psychotherapy training

Psychotherapy Research

Volumn 23, Issue 2, 2013, Pages 169-177

  Messina, Irene ^a   Palmieri, Arianna ^a   Sambin, Marco ^a   Kleinbub, Johann Roland ^a   Voci, Alberto ^a   Calvo, Vincenzo ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PADOVA   (Italy)

Author keywords

emotion in therapy; psychotherapist training supervision development

Indexed keywords

ADULT; ARTICLE; EDUCATION; ELECTRODERMAL RESPONSE; EMPATHY; FEMALE; HUMAN; HUMAN RELATION; MALE; PHYSIOLOGY; PSYCHOTHERAPY;

ADULT; EMPATHY; FEMALE; GALVANIC SKIN RESPONSE; HUMANS; MALE; PROFESSIONAL-PATIENT RELATIONS; PSYCHOTHERAPY; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84876327476     PISSN: 10503307     EISSN: 14684381     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10503307.2012.748940     Document Type: Article

References (71)

1. Adler, H.M. 2007. Toward a biopsychosocial understanding of the patient-physician relationship: An emerging dialogue. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 22(2): 280-285. doi:10.1007/s11606-006-0037-8
2. Al-Darmaki, F.R. 2004. Counselor training, anxiety, and counselling self-efficacy: Implications for training psychology students from the United Arab Emirates University. Social Behaviour and Personality, 32(5): 429-440. doi:10.2224/sbp.2004.32.5.429
3. Balconi, M. and Bortolotti, A. 2012. Resonance mechanism in empathic behavior BEES, BIS/BAS and psychophysiological contribution. Physiology & Behavior, 105(2): 298-304. doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.08.002
4. Barrett, L.F., Tugade, M.M. and Engle, R.W. 2004. Individual differences in working memory capacity and dual-process theories of the mind. Psychological Bulletin, 130(4): 553-573. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.130.4.553
5. Barrett-Lennard, G.T. 1986. "The Relationship Inventory now: Issues and advances in theory, method, and use". In The psychotherapeutic process: A research handbook, Edited by: Greemberg, L.S. and Pinsof, W.M. New York: Guilford Press.
6. Batson, C.D., Fultz, J. and Schoenrade, P.A. 1987. Distress and empathy: Two qualitatively distinct vicarious emotions with different motivational consequences. Journal of Personality, 55(1): 19-39. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1987.tb00426.x
7. Bauer, R.M. 1998. Physiologic measures of emotion. Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology: Official Publication of the American Electroencephalographic Society, 15(5): 388-396. doi:10.1097/00004691-199809000-00003
8. Beebe, B. and Lachmann, F.M. 2002. Infant research and adult treatment: Co-constructing interactions, New York: The Analytic Press.
9. Berger, D.M. 1987. Clinical empathy, Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson.
10. Burns, D.D. and Nolen-Hoeksema, S. 1992. Therapeutic empathy and recovery from depression in cognitive-behavioral therapy: A structural equation model. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60(3): 441-449. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.60.3.441
11. Busk, J., Naftulin, D.H., Donnelly, F.A. and Wolkon, G.H. 1976. Therapists' physiological activation and patient difficulty. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 163(2): 73-78. doi:10.1097/00005053-197608000-00001
12. Carkhuff, R.R. 1969. Helping and human relations: A primer for lay and professional helpers, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
13. Cattaneo, L. and Rizzolatti, G. 2009. The mirror neuron system. Archives of Neurology, 66(5): 557-560. doi:10.1001/archneurol.2009.41
14. Critchley, H.D. 2009. Psychophysiology of neural, cognitive and affective integration: FMRI and autonomic indicants. International Journal of Psychophysiology: Official Journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology, 73(2): 88-94. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2009.01.012
15. Dawson, M.E. 1990. Psychophysiology at the Interface of clinical science, cognitive science, and neuroscience. Psychophysiology, 27: 243-255. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.1990.tb00378.x
16. Decety, J. 2011. The neuroevolution of empathy. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1231: 35-45.
17. Decety, J. and Sommerville, J.A. 2003. Shared representations between self and others: A social cognitive neuroscience view. Trends in Cognitive Science, 7: 527-533. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2003.10.004
18. Dimascio, A., Boyd, R.W. and Geenblatt, M. 1957. Physiological correlates of tension and antagonism during psychotherapy; a study of interpersonal physiology. Psychosomatic Medicine, 19(2): 99-104.
19. Ebisch, S.J., Aureli, T., Bafunno, D., Cardone, D., Romani, G.L. and Merla, A. 2012. Mother and child in synchrony: Thermal facial imprints of autonomic contagion. Biological Psychology, 89(1): 123-129. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.09.018
20. Eisenberg, N. 2007. Empathy-related responding and prosocial behaviour. Novartis Foundation Symposium, 278: 71-80.
21. Elliott, R., Bohart, A.C., Watson, J.C. and Greenberg, L.S. 2011. Empathy. Psychotherapy (ChicagoIll.), 48(1): 43-49. doi:10.1037/a0022187
22. Elliott, R. and Zucconi, A. 2010. "Organization and research framework for practice-based research on the effectiveness of psychotherapy and psychotherapy training". In Developing and delivering practice-based evidence: A guide for the psychological therapies, Edited by: Barkham, M., Hardy, G.E. and Mellor-Clark, J. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
23. Fan, Y. and Han, S. 2008. Temporal dynamic of neural mechanisms involved in empathy for pain: An event-related brain potential study. Neuropsychologia, 46(1): 160-173. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.07.023
24. Finset, A., Stensrud, T.L., Holt, E., Verheul, W. and Bensing, J. 2011. Electrodermal activity in response to empathic statements in clinical interviews with fibromyalgia patients. Patient Education and Counseling, 82(3): 355-360. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2010.12.029
25. Fowles, D.C., Christie, M.J., Edelberg, R., Grings, W.W., Lykken, D.T. and Venables, P.H. 1981. Committee report. publication recommendations for electrodermal measurements. Psychophysiology, 18(3): 232-239. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.1981.tb03024.x
26. Free, N.K., Green, B.L., Grace, M.C., Chernus, L.A. and Whitman, R.M. 1985. Empathy and outcome in brief focal dynamic therapy. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142(8): 917-921.
27. Frith, C. and Frith, U. 2005. Theory of mind. Current Biology, 15: 644-645. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2005.08.041
28. Gallese, V. 2007. Before and below 'theory of mind': Embodied simulation and the neural correlates of social cognition. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 362(1480): 659-669. doi:10.1098/rstb.2006.2002
29. Gallese, V., Eagle, M.N. and Migone, P. 2007. Intentional attunement: Mirror neurons and the neural underpinnings of interpersonal relations. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 55(1): 131-176. doi:10.1177/00030651070550010601
30. Gladstein, G.A. 1983. Understanding empathy: integrating counseling, developmental, and social psychology perspectives. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 30(4): 467-482. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.30.4.467
31. Hassenstab, J., Dziobek, I., Rogers, K., Wolf, O.T. and Convit, A. 2007. Knowing what others know, feeling what others feel: A controlled study of empathy in therapists. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 195(4): 277-281. doi:10.1097/01.nmd.0000253794.74540.2d
32. Hayes, J.A. and Gelso, C.J. 1991. Effects of therapist-trainees' anxiety and empathy on countertransference behavior. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 47(2): 284-290. doi:10.1002/1097-4679(199103)47:2%3C284::AID-JCLP2270470216%3E3.0.CO;2-N
33. Hein, G., Lamm, C., Brodbeck, C. and Singer, T. 2011. Skin conductance response to the pain of others predicts later costly helping. PloS One, 6(8): e22759 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0022759
34. Hess, U. and Blairy, S. 2001. Facial mimicry and emotional contagion to dynamic emotional facial expressions and their influence on decoding accuracy. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 40(2): 129-141. doi:10.1016/S0167-8760(00)00161-6
35. Huang, C.Y., Liao, H.Y. and Chang, S.H. 1998. Social desirability and the clinical self-report inventory: Methodological reconsideration. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 54(4): 517-528. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-4679(199806)54:4%3C517::AID-JCLP13%3E3.0.CO;2-I
36. Iacoboni, M. 2009. Imitation, empathy, and mirror neurons. Annual Review of Psychology, 60: 653-670. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163604
37. Ivey, A.E., Ivey, M.B. and Zalaquett, C.P. 2010. Intentional interviewing and counseling, Belmont, CA: Brooks Cole.
38. Keijsers, G.P., Schaap, C.P. and Hoogduin, C.A. 2000. The impact of interpersonal patient and therapist behavior on outcome in cognitive-behavior therapy. A review of empirical studies. Behavior Modification, 24(2): 264-297. doi:10.1177/0145445500242006
39. Kurtz, R.R. and Grummon, D.L. 1972. Different approaches to the measurement of therapist empathy and their relationship to therapy outcomes. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 39(1): 106-115. doi:10.1037/h0033190
40. Lafferty, P., Beutler, L.E. and Crago, M. 1989. Differences between more and less effective therapists: A study of select therapist variables. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57(1): 76-80. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.57.1.76
41. Lamm, C., Nusbaum, H.C., Meltzoff, A.N. and Decety, J. 2007. What are you feeling? Using functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess the modulation of sensory and affective responses during empathy for pain. PloS One, 2(12): e1292 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001292
42. Levenson, R.W. and Ruef, A.M. 1992. Empathy: A physiological substrate. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(2): 234-246. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.63.2.234
43. Losoya, S.H. and Eisenberg, N. 2001. "Affective empathy". In Interpersonal sensitivity, Edited by: Hall, J.A. and Bernieri, F.J. 21-43. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
44. Luborsky, L., Crits-Christoph, P., McLellan, A.T., Woody, G., Piper, W.Liberman, B. 1986. Do therapists vary much in their success? findings from four outcome studies. The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 56(4): 501-512. doi:10.1111/j.1939-0025.1986.tb03483.x
45. Mahrer, A.R., Boulet, D.B. and Fairweather, D.R. 1994. Beyond empathy: Advances in the clinical theory and methods of empathy. Clinical Psychology Review, 14(3): 183-198. doi:10.1016/0272-7358(94)90007-8
46. Malmo, R.B., Boag, T.J. and Smith, A.A. 1957. Physiological study of personal interaction. Psychosomatic Medicine, 19(2): 105-119.
47. Marci, C.D., Ham, J., Moran, E. and Orr, S.P. 2007. Physiologic correlates of perceived therapist empathy and social-emotional process during psychotherapy. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 195(2): 103-111. doi:10.1097/01.nmd.0000253731.71025.fc
48. Marci, C.D. and Orr, S.P. 2006. The effect of emotional distance on psychophysiologic concordance and perceived empathy between patient and interviewer. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 31(2): 115-128. doi:10.1007/s10484-006-9008-4
49. Marci, C. and Riess, H. 2005. The clinical relevance of psychophysiology: Support for the psychobiology of empathy and psychodynamic process. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 59(3): 213-226.
50. Messina, I., Sambin, M., & Palmieri, A. (in press). Measuring therapeutic empathy in a clinical context: Validating the Italian version of the Empathic Understanding of Relationship Inventory. TPM - Testing, Psychometrics, Methodology in Applied Psychology.
51. Mohr, D.C. 1995. Negative outcome in psychotherapy: A critical review. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 2: 1-27. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2850.1995.tb00022.x
52. Oliveira-Silva, P. and Gonçalves, O.F. 2011. Responding empathically: a question of heart, no a question of skin. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 33(4): 201-2017. doi:10.1007/s10484-011-9161-2
53. Orlinsky, D.E. and Russell, R.L. 1994. Reassessing psychotherapy research, New York: Guilford Press.
54. Preston, S.D., Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Grabowski, T.J., Stansfield, R.B., Mehta, S. and Damasio, A.R. 2007. The neural substrate of cognitive empathy. Social Neuroscience, 2(3-4): 254-275. doi:10.1080/17470910701376902
55. Rogers, C.R. 1957. The necessary and sufficient condition of therapeutic personality change. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 21: 95-103. doi:10.1037/h0045357
56. Schulte-Rüther, M., Markowitsch, H.J., Fink, G.R. and Piefke, M. 2007. Mirror neuron and theory of mind mechanisms involved in face-to-face interactions: A functional magnetic resonance imaging approach to empathy. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(8): 1354-1372. doi:10.1162/jocn.2007.19.8.1354
57. Sequeira, H., Hot, P., Silvert, L. and Delplanque, S. 2009. Electrical autonomic correlates of emotion. International Journal of Psychophysiology: Official Journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology, 71(1): 50-56. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.07.009
58. Sonnby-Borgström, M. 2002. Automatic mimicry reactions as related to differences in emotional empathy. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 43(5): 433-443. doi:10.1111/1467-9450.00312
59. Sonnby-Borgström, M., Jönsson, P. and Owe, S. 2003. Emotional empathy as related to mimicry reactions at different levels of information processing. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 27(1): 3-23. doi:10.1023/A:1023608506243
60. Stanek, B., Hahn, P. and Mayer, H. 1973. Biometric findings on cardiac neurosis. 3. Changes in ECG and heart rate in cardiophobic patients and their doctor during psychoanalytical initial interviews. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 22(2): 289-299. doi:10.1159/000286534
61. Stocks, E.L., Lishner, D.A. and Decker, S.K. 2009. Altruism or psychological escape: Why does empathy promote prosocial behavior?. European Journal of Social Psychology, 30(5): 649-665. doi:10.1002/ejsp.561
62. Stolorow, R.D. 1997. Dynamic, dyadic, intersubjective systems: An evolving paradigm for psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 14(3): 337-346. doi:10.1037/h0079729
63. Tronick, E.Z., Bruschweiler-Stern, N., Harrison, A.M., Lyons-Ruth, K., Morgan, A.C., Nahum, J.P., Sander, L. and Stern, D.N. 1998. Dyadically expanded states of consciousness and the process of therapeutic change. Infant Mental Health Journal, 19: 290-299. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0355(199823)19:3%3C290::AID-IMHJ4%3E3.0.CO;2-Q
64. Truax, C. and Carkhuff, R.R. 1967. Toward effective counseling and psychotherapy, Chicago: Aldine.
65. Truax, C.B, Wargo, D.G., Frank, J.D., Imber, S.D., Battle, C.C., Hoehn-Saric, R., Nash, E.H. and Stone, A.R. 1966. Therapist empathy, genuineness, and warmth and patient therapeutic outcome. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 30(5): 395-401. doi:10.1037/h0023827
66. Vetrugno, R., Liguori, R., Cortelli, P. and Montagna, P. 2003. Sympathetic skin response: Basic mechanisms and clinical applications. Clinical Autonomic Research: Official Journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society, 13(4): 256-270. doi:10.1007/s10286-003-0107-5
67. Wiesenfeld, A.R., Whitman, P.B. and Malatesta, C.Z. 1984. Individual differences among adult women in sensitivity to infants: Evidence in support of an empathy concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46(1): 118-124. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.46.1.118
68. Williams, R. and Dazzi, N. 2006. "Il concetto di empatia tra clinica e ricerca empirica". In La ricerca in psicoterapia, Edited by: Dazzi, N., Lingiardi, V. and Colli, A. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore.
69. Yamada, M. and Decety, J. 2009. Unconscious affective processing and empathy: An investigation of subliminal priming on the detection of painful facial expressions. Pain, 143(1-2): 71-75. doi:10.1016/j.pain.2009.01.028
70. Yu, J. and Kirk, M. 2009. Evaluation of empathy measurement tools in nursing: Systematic review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 65(9): 1790-1806. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2009.05071.x
71. Yulis, S. and Kiesler, D.J. 1968. Countertransference response as a function of therapist anxiety and content of patient talk. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 32(4): 413-419. doi:10.1037/h0026107