In psychological counseling guided by psychoanalytic theory, visitors will unconsciously respond to the counselor according to the model established in their early life. Subconsciously, the visitor transfers the driving force, defense, emotional content and coping style he experienced and developed from his early interaction with an object to the psychological counselor, that is, he transfers his previous experience and relationship with his object to the present object. This phenomenon is called empathy in psychoanalytic consultation. This is a relatively rigorous concept given in the introduction to psychoanalysis.
2. The origin of empathy
The word empathy is attributed to Freud's contribution. 1883, psychotherapy of Bleuel and the first visitor, Anna O. Bleuel, as Freud's brother, is more than ten years older than him. At that time, Bleuel was already a very famous talk therapist. Bleuel is a physiologist herself, but Anna O shows a very typical hysteria, which is a psychological disorder.
Before Freud graduated, he had the opportunity to go to his brother's studio, where he met Anna O. Then Bluel often talked with him about his work with Anna O. Later, in 1895, they collaborated on a research on hysteria. But in 1883, Freud clearly put forward the concept of empathy through the case of Anna O in 1883.
3. The characteristics of empathy
Empathy is that the subject copies the emotional content and coping style of childhood interaction with an important object to the current object. So it has several characteristics:
The first characteristic: repeatability. Some emotional contents and coping styles experienced in childhood are repeatedly used, and they will be repeated in this way when they interact with new objects in adulthood.
The second feature: inappropriate. Because it is unrealistic, for example, a person who starts to work in a company after graduation meets a leader. This leader may be serious in body shape or eyes, but in fact he doesn't know this leader, just because of a certain characteristic, which activates some childhood experiences. For example, if this person happens to have a strict father, then at this moment, he will copy his nervousness, fear, anger and sometimes some admiration to the current leader.
On the other hand, the coping style between him and his father will also be used, such as some pandering, or some secret confrontation and so on. This is unrealistic and inappropriate.
The third feature: dislocation. Because the man now is not an old man, but he applies his feelings and ways to the man now, so this is the dislocation of time and age.
The fourth feature: replacement. In the mechanism of psychology, empathy embodies the content of substitution in psychological function, that is, copying the past mental impulse, emotion and defense style to someone to the current object, which is substitution.
4. The content of empathy:
In terms of content, there are many empathic contents. All the emotional contents that this important person (important object) interacts with can be empathetic contents, which can be good or bad emotional reactions in all aspects, changes in specific experiences, feelings, impulses, wishes, fantasies, attitudes, ideas and contents, and some reactions to protect these contents. These are the contents of empathy.
These contents are both positive and negative. In consultation, visitors' empathy includes not only their feelings for the counselor, but also their unconscious expectations. In order to keep the counselor familiar with the content, they will make some corresponding coping styles. Like role-playing, visitors and counselors will unconsciously repeat an important period of their childhood growth, which is irresistible, but it is actually subtle and easy to identify.
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