Abstract

Empathy is the ability of the therapist to place himself in the position of the treated and to face life and the world through the latter’s eyes. According to Coutu (1951), «empathy is the process by which a person momentarily pretends to himself that he is another person…in order that he may get an insight into the other person’s probable behaviour in a given situation». Respectively, Goldstein, Michaels (1985), consider that with empathy a person is sensitized to a maximum extent regarding the emotional state of the other and so can go deeper into the individual processes of emotional resonance, cognitive analysis and accurate feedback. It has been found that empathy is an important factor for the development of constructive therapeutic relationship. Goleman (1995) describes empathy as the ability to recognize and understand the desires, goals and views around you. It is a therapeutic tool having its roots in the work of Rogers CR [1], who appointed empathy as the core of person-centred approach to counseling. It is mainly a cognitive characteristic which includes the understanding of the individual’s experiences, opinions and perceptions, combining them with the ability for communication and intention to provide assistance. The aim of this study was the weighting of the empathy questionnaire Toronto Empathy Questionnaire on the greek population.

Keywords: Toronto empathy questionnaire; Empathy; Weighting; Reliability; Correlation