[Empathy--understanding through identification]

Empathy is defined as an understanding of another individual through the projection of ones own personality. It is manifested by the willingness and effort to perceive, capture and understand the individuals both current and potential world as exactly as possible with all its subjective meanings and feelings. It is based on intuition attended by an emotional involvement and positive interest in the other person. The process of empathy runs in three stages which overlap: first we enter the other persons subjectivity, than share in his/her thoughts, emotions and feelings and finally comes the understanding of the other person. Empathy can be traced to phylogenesis, it is biologically anchored and in the course of human life (ontogenetic approach) it develops in the social milieu as do our other abilities. It is one of general effective factors of psychotherapy and, in the psychotherapeutic relationship, has both a direct and indirect effect upon the patient (within the hermeneutic process). Today, this matter is most extensively worked out by the Rogerian and psychoanalytic psychotherapy.