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Do Empathic Abilities Change throughout the Course of Becoming a Psychotherapist?

Published Online:September 14, 2015https://doi.org/10.1024/1016-264X/a000157

Abstract

Abstract. Empathy is defined as an individually varying but stable personality trait. Contrary to this statement we proposed a model (Georgi, Petermann & Schipper, 2014) in which individual empathic abilities are continuously modulated throughout life, resulting in modifications of neural processes and their underlying neural structures. To further investigate and validate the model’s assumptions we conducted a cross-sectional study using the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy, assessing empathic abilities of three groups of psychologists at different stages of their careers. Results showed higher cognitive and lower affective empathic measures for psychological psychotherapists compared to first-year-bachelor as well as master students. Regarding to our model these findings demonstrate possible effects of psychological education and professional experience on empathic perception.


Verändern sich empathische Fähigkeiten im Verlauf der Ausbildung zum Psychotherapeuten?

Zusammenfassung. Empathie wird oft als individuell variierende aber stabile Persönlichkeitseigenschaft definiert. Konträr hierzu stellten wir ein Modell vor, das Empathie als eine sich über die Lebensspanne kontinuierlich verändernde Fähigkeit darstellt, deren Veränderungen sich in Modifikationen neuronaler Verarbeitungsprozesse und in deren biologischen Substraten zeigen (Georgi, Petermann & Schipper, 2014). Zur Untersuchung und Validierung der Modellannahmen wurde unter Verwendung eines Fragebogens zur Erfassung affektiver und kognitiver Empathie (Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy) eine Querschnittstudie durchgeführt. In dieser Studie wurden die empathischen Fähigkeiten von Psychologen untersucht. Die teilnehmenden PsychologInnen und Studierenden der Psychologie wurden entsprechend ihrer beruflichen Erfahrung sowie dem Stadium ihrer Karriere auf drei Gruppen verteilt. Die Ergebnisse der Studie zeigen etwa, dass Psychologische PsychotherapeutInnen verglichen mit Bachelor- und Masterstudierenden der Psychologie einerseits höhere kognitive, andererseits aber niedrigere affektive empathische Fähigkeiten aufweisen. In Anlehnung an unser Modell demonstrieren diese Ergebnisse mögliche Effekte von psychologischer Ausbildung und professioneller therapeutischer Erfahrung auf die Empathiefähigkeit.

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