The Role of Empathy in Psychotherapy Effectiveness and Therapeutic Alliance: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Although empathy is often described as understanding another person's emotions, experiences, motivations, or perspective, it is also defined as being generally sensitive and aware of the other person. Empathy plays a significant role in human interactions and is inherently a crucial component within the psychotherapy setting. This study aims to systematically review research examining the relationship between therapist empathy, therapeutic alliance, and psychotherapy effectiveness. To achieve this goal, research articles from the past 15 years on this topic were searched using specific keywords in databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria to the search results, 20 articles were included in the systematic review. The findings of these studies indicate that, regardless of participants' characteristics, their psychopathologies, the types of psychotherapy employed by therapists, or the research designs used, therapist empathy, therapeutic alliance, and psychotherapy effectiveness are interrelated. As the level of empathy perceived by clients increases, the severity of depressive symptoms, and the amounts of alcohol and substance use decrease. While empathy has a direct relationship with psychotherapy effectiveness, it also has an indirect effect. Specifically, therapist empathy enhances therapeutic collaboration, which in turn positively affects psychotherapy effectiveness. Furthermore, the use of empathy in psychotherapy is important not only in face-to-face settings but also in online environments, making it a significant factor in psychotherapy effectiveness.

Keywords

• empathy
• therapist
• psychotherapy effectiveness
• therapeutic alliance

Psikoterapi Etkililiğinde ve Terapötik İttifakta Empatinin Rolü: Sistematik Bir Gözden Geçirme

Abstract

Empati her ne kadar genellikle, bir kişinin diğerinin duygularını, deneyimlerini, motivasyonunu veya bakış açısını anlaması olarak ifade edilse de diğer kişiye karşı genel olarak duyarlılık ve farkındalık içerisinde olmakta empati olarak tanımlanmaktadır. Empati insan etkileşimi içerisinde önemli bir yere sahip olmakla birlikte doğal olarak psikoterapi ortamı içinde önemli bileşenlerinden biridir. Bu araştırmada terapistin empatisiyle, terapötik ittifak ve psikoterapi etkililiği arasındaki ilişkiyi araştıran çalışmalar incelenerek sistematik bir gözden geçirme yapmak amaçlanmıştır. Bu hedef doğrultusunda PubMed, Google Akademik, Web of Science ve ScienceDirect veri tabanlarından son 15 yıl içerisindeki söz konusu konuyu inceleyen araştırmalar, belli anahtar kelimeler kullanılarak taranmıştır. Ulaşılan tarama sonuçları dahil edilme ve dışlama kriterlerinden geçirildikten sonra kalan 20 makale sistematik gözden geçirmeye dahil edilmiştir. Çalışmaların bulguları; katılımcıların özellikleri ve sahip oldukları psikopatolojiler, terapistlerin uyguladıkları psikoterapi türleri ve tasarladıkları araştırma desenlerinden bağımsız olarak terapistin empatisiyle, terapötik ittifak ve psikoterapinin etkililiğinin ilişkili olduğunu göstermektedir. Terapistlerin, danışanlar tarafından algılanan empati seviyesi yükseldikçe psikoterapinin etkililiği olarak tanımlanan depresif semptomların şiddeti, alkol ve madde kullanım miktarı azalmıştır. Empatinin psikoterapinin etkililiğiyle doğrudan bir ilişkisi olduğu görülse de aynı zamanda dolaylı bir etkisi de bulunmaktadır. Buna göre, terapistin gösterdiği empati, terapötik iş birliğini geliştirmekte ve terapötik iş birliği de psikoterapinin etkililiğini olumlu yönde etkilemektedir. Ayrıca psikoterapide empatinin kullanımı sadece yüz yüze ortamlar için değil, çevrim içi ortamlar için de önemlidir ve psikoterapinin etkililiğinde önemli bir faktördür.

Keywords

• empati
• terapist
• psikoterapi etkililiği
• terapötik ittifak

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