Examining the Relationship Between the Therapeutic Bond and the Phases of Treatment Outcome

Examined the association between the therapeutic bond—an element of the therapeutic alliance—and treatment effectiveness. 114 psychotherapy clients completed self-report questionnaires at intake and throughout open-ended, psychodynamically oriented psychotherapy. Three bond scales, role investment (RI), empathic resonance (ER), and mutual affirmation (MA), were contrasted to session quality and the three phases of outcome (remoralization, remediation, and rehabilitation). Results indicated that different aspects of the bond predicted session quality and treatment outcome. Clients who felt motivated and invested in therapy (relatively high RI) and who reported that the therapeutic environment was friendly and affirmative (relatively high MA) were likely to rate the session as being helpful and productive. Clients who had a relatively high sense of understanding and of being understood (ER) experienced greater remoralization and remediation (but not rehabilitation). The results are placed within the context of recent research into the therapeutic alliance

Modeling Empathy and Distress in Reaction to News Stories

Computational detection and understanding of empathy is an important factor in advancing human-computer interaction. Yet to date, text-based empathy prediction has the following major limitations: It underestimates the psychological complexity of the phenomenon, adheres to a weak notion of ground truth where empathic states are ascribed by third parties, and lacks a shared corpus. In contrast, this contribution presents the first publicly available gold standard for empathy prediction. It is constructed using a novel annotation methodology which reliably captures empathy assessments by the writer of a statement using multi-item scales. This is also the first computational work distinguishing between multiple forms of empathy, empathic concern, and personal distress, as recognized throughout psychology. Finally, we present experimental results for three different predictive models, of which a CNN performs the best.Comment: To appear at EMNLP 201

Factors Related to Ethnocultural Empathy Among White Counselor Education Faculty: Implications for African American Male Students.

Cultural competence represents a central element of the professional practices exhibited by professional counselors and counselor educators (CACREP, 2016). Inconsistent with the place it holds in the field, cultural competence has been minimally studied among those responsible for gatekeeping, teaching, supervision, and research – faculty. Among variables relevant to measurable outcomes is ethnocultural empathy (EE), ideal as it is described as a combination of empathic thoughts, feelings, and behaviors toward others with whom you have differences in cultural identities and experiences (Wang et al., 2003). This study sought to add to the body of literature on the cross-racial interactions between counselor education faculty and the diverse students enrolled in counselor-training programs. Specifically, emphasis was placed on interactions between faculty who identify as White and African American college men, by assessing the moderating role of openness to diversity (OTD) and direct social contact (DSC) in the relationship between White Racial Identity Attitudes (WRIA) and Ethnocultural Empathy (EE) in a sample of (N = 131) White faculty. Both high levels of OTD and DSC were found to moderate this relationship at some White racial identity statuses, but not all. Two primary implications exist for this study relevant to the field of professional counseling and counselor education. The first is increased academic outcomes among African American male counselors-in-training due to reduced implicit bias communication. The second is pertinent additions to the training of counselor educators to work competently with African American men

Building a Predictor Model of Variables for Students Currently in a Counseling Program and the Impact Those Variables Have on Their Levels of Empathy

The purpose of the study is to investigate a variety of character traits, stressors or traumatic event variables in order to develop a possible predictor model for individuals that seek out to become a student in a counseling program and how those variables relate to their level of empathy. The purpose of using a multiple linear regression analysis is to help determine if a linear relationship exist between the dependent variable and a set of independent variables. The multiple linear regression analyzes the data to determine if the residuals are homoscedastic and approximately rectangular-shaped. A multiple linear regression allows the researcher to assess for the absence of multicollinearity in the model, meaning that the independent variables are not highly correlated. The multiple linear regression analysis determines the single fit for the variables through a scatter plot. More specifically the multiple linear regression fits a line through a multi-dimensional space of data points in order to determine their correlation to each other (O’Brien, 2018)

Therapist empathy and client outcome: an updated meta-analysis

Put simply, empathy refers to understanding what another person is experiencing or trying to express. Therapist empathy has a long history as a hypothesized key change process in psychotherapy. We begin by discussing definitional issues and presenting an integrative definition. We then review measures of therapist empathy, including the conceptual problem of separating empathy from other relationship variables. We follow this with clinical examples illustrating different forms of therapist empathy and empathic response modes. The core of our review is a meta-analysis of research on the relation between therapist empathy and client outcome. Results indicated that empathy is a moderately strong predictor of therapy outcome: mean weighted r= .28 (p< .001; 95% confidence interval: .23 –.33; equivalent of d= .58) for 82 independent samples and 6,138 clients. In general, the empathy-outcome relation held for different theoretical orientations and client presenting problems; however, there was considerable heterogeneity in the effects. Client, observer, and therapist perception measures predicted client outcome better than empathic accuracy measures. We then consider the limitations of the current data. We conclude with diversity considerations and practice recommendations, including endorsing the different forms that empathy may take in therapy

Mindful awareness and compassion, and empathy and anxiety in counselor trainees

This study explored the relationships between two aspect of mindfulness, awareness and compassion, and empathy and anxiety in counselor trainees. Empathy and anxiety are two training variables that have strong associations with counseling performance. Empathy is widely regarded as important for the effective development of a therapeutic relationship and positive counseling outcomes while a higher level of anxiety in trainees can impede the cultivation of empathy and the development of counselor self-efficacy. Currently, there is little to guide educators in how to cultivate genuine empathy and also mitigate unproductive levels of anxiety in trainees. Mindfulness has been proposed as a potential method for addressing both empathy and anxiety, however, empirical evidence for these associations with counselors is limited. Additionally, the relative contribution of the compassion wing of mindfulness has been relatively unstudied. In this study, the relationships between mindful awareness and compassion and empathy and anxiety were examined. A total of 131 master's level counseling interns were surveyed to determine their levels of mindful awareness, mindful compassion, empathy, and anxiety using the Five-Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire, the Self Other Four Immeasurables, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and the Trimodal Anxiety Questionnaire. Pearson Product Moment Coefficients revealed significant pairwise relationships between mindful awareness and compassion and anxiety in the expected directions. Mindful awareness and compassion for others had a significant relationship with cognitive empathy in the expected directions. Compassion for others had a significant relationship with affective empathy in the expected direction. In a linear regression model, awareness and compassion explained a modest amount of variance in affective empathy with compassion for others contributing significantly. Linear regression also revealed that awareness and compassion explained a moderate amount of variance in cognitive empathy with nonjudge, nonreact, and compassion for others emerging as significant predictors. A substantial amount of the variance in anxiety was explained by awareness, with describe, act with awareness, and nonjudge facets emerging as significant predictors. A hierarchal regression indicated that mindful compassion increased the variance explained in affective empathy, cognitive empathy, and anxiety, beyond that explained by mindful awareness alone, and offered the greatest increase for affective empathy

Factors That Influence the Association Between Adult Attachment and Marital Satisfaction

Adult attachment theory offers a promising conceptual framework for understanding the psychological and contextual factors that contribute to marital satisfaction. A consistent association has been found between adult attachment dimensions and marital satisfaction. The current study examined several mediating mechanisms that may explain the relationship between adult attachment dimensions and marital satisfaction. Specifically, relationship expectations, four types of responses to accommodative dilemmas (exit, neglect, voice, and loyalty), and three forms of empathy (empathic concern, perspective taking, empathic personal distress) were hypothesized to mediate the relationship between adult attachment and marital satisfaction. Self-report data were collected from both partners of 193 heterosexual, married couples. The attachment dimension of avoidance for husbands and wives was consistently associated with each couple member\u27s respective marital satisfaction. Attachment anxiety was never directly associated with either husbands\u27 or wives\u27 marital satisfaction. Wives\u27 marital satisfaction was explained by their own relationship expectations and exit responses. Additionally, wives\u27 marital satisfaction was explained by their husband\u27s relationship expectations, exit responses, empathic perspective taking, and loyalty responses. Husbands\u27 marital satisfaction was explained by their own relationship expectations, exit responses, neglect responses, voice responses, loyalty responses, and empathic perspective taking. Results are discussed in light of current theories of adult attachment and marital satisfaction