Can Empathy Be Taught? – Robert Moss
Robert Moss
Big Question
For
anyone who has done clinical supervision of graduate students, there is
no doubt that there are wide variations in the “natural” abilities of
students to utilize warmth, genuineness, and empathy in therapy
sessions. The ability of the therapist to convey to a client that there
is an accurate perception of his/her emotional state entails both an
accurate labeling and description by the therapist. However, those with
the more “natural” abilities also display both non-verbal (e.g., facial
expressions) and vocal (i.e., tone, inflections, and volume of voice)
behaviors that reinforce what is said. So the answer to the big question
from my perspective is that “what is said” is much easier to teach than
is the “how it is said.”
Textbooks
and supervisors can provide suggestions on what words to use in
situations that can provide the client with the verbal recognition of
his/her emotional condition. In relation to the “neurobiology” of
empathy, my theory is that it relates to the cortical hemispheres (Moss,
2006, 2007, 2010, 2013; Moss, Hunter, Shah, & Havens, 2012). The
left hemisphere for most individuals is dominant for spoken language.
Thus, the therapist can learn the verbal components and, in turn, voice
this to a client’s left hemisphere relatively easily. Over time a
therapist learns more statements and practices these across clients.
If accurate information is given to the client, the verbalized
descriptions (processed by the client’s left hemisphere’s “verbal
interpreter”) provide an explanation for the non-verbal emotional
processing of the client’s right cortex. I (Moss, 2013) have suggested
this reduces the conflict (allowing “interhemispheric congruence”)
between the two sides with the result being that the client perceives
more self-acceptance, internal peace, and may experience an emotional
release (e.g., becoming tearful). The self-acceptance involves the left
hemisphere’s verbal interpreter recognizing the right hemisphere’s
emotion is reasonable (i.e., developing a new schema). The internal
peace is a function of decreased inhibitory activity between the right
and left frontal lobes. The emotional release is a function of decreased
left frontal inhibition on the right frontal lobe which controls the
behavioral expression of affective responses.
When the client has a change in affect, this in turn is processed by the
therapist’s right hemisphere. It is the right hemisphere processing
that allows a therapist to learn experientially to sense when desired
affective response is occurring with a client. In turn, the therapist’s
right frontal lobe is primarily responsible for the non-verbal and vocal
behaviors in terms of “how” therapeutic information is given. In an
article I wrote on negative emotional memories, I noted that in relation
to learning non-verbal therapy skills:
Clinical experience would be the only means of forming
these expressive experiential memories. This leads to the logical
conclusion that many experienced, practicing clinicians have more
extensive therapy-related experiential right hemisphere receptive and
expressive memories than do many academic clinicians. Manualized ESTs
cannot teach therapists these right cortical memories since these can
only develop as a result of experience with “real world” clients.
However, it is possible to use manuals to make therapists verbally aware
(i.e., left cortex) of important in-session behaviors that can
influence treatment outcome. Additionally, modeled behaviors can be
rehearsed by novice therapists with videotaped feedback. Making
therapists verbally aware and utilizing experiential training techniques
could increase the speed with which these important skills are learned.
(Moss, 2007, pp. 218-219)
Few neuroscience professionals will contest the fact that all people
learn a “native” verbal language based on the language to which they are
exposed during childhood. This appears to occur bilaterally to some
degree initially. Yet, the capacity of the left hemisphere to handle the
detailed memories tied to spoken language likely leads it to assume
final primary control. Similarly, the quick and efficient processing in
the right hemisphere allows it to effectively handle the non-detailed
analysis and expression of non-verbal emotional components in
relationships. Just as we develop a native verbal language of the left
hemisphere, we develop a “native emotional language” of the right
hemisphere. For those “natural” empathic individuals, the native
emotional language they learned as a child involved those non-verbal
skills.
The critical period for learning two languages and being truly
bilingual is around the age of 8. It is possible to learn a second
language later, but it will not ever be perfected. If what I have
described is accurate, we learn our native emotional language and this
will be with us for the rest of our lives. For those who developed
empathic non-verbal skills early, these will remain and only get
stronger. Perhaps these individuals have the ability to become “super”
therapists, but not even be aware of exactly how they are accomplishing
such therapeutic effects. For those who are not “naturals,” they can
still get quite efficient in non-verbal therapy skills with sufficient
training and experience. However, they will be comparable to someone who
developed the use of a second verbal language after the critical
period.
I hope this may stimulate some thought for the readers. My articles
listed below are available on my contribution page at researchgate.net
and academia.edu, as well as at my website
www.emotionalrestructuring.com under current papers.
References
Moss, R. A. (2006). Of bits and logic: Cortical columns in learning and memory. The Journal of Mind and Behavior, 27, 215-246.
Moss, R. A. (2007). Negative emotional memories in clinical practice:
Theoretical considerations. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 17,
209-224.
Moss, R. A. (2010). Clinical Biopsychology: Could A Grand Theory
Actually Exist To Allow True Psychotherapy Integration? Independent
Practitioner, 30, 67-71.
Moss, R. A., Hunter, B. P., Shah, D., & Havens, T. (2012). A theory
of hemispheric specialization based on cortical columns. Journal of Mind
and Behavior, 33, 141-172.
Moss, R. A. (2013). Psychotherapy and the brain: The dimensional systems
model and clinical biopsychology. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 34,
63-89.
Bob Moss is a clinical psychologist who works with Bon Secours St.
Francis Hospital in Greenville, SC, USA. He is board certified in
clinical psychology and neuropsychology. He is a former associate
professor in clinical psychology and was in private practice for over 20
years. He has authored a number of professional articles and has
presented at a number of local, national, and international professional
meetings. His website is www.emotionalrestructuring.com and email is
rmoss@emotionalrestructuring.com.
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