empathy /em·pa·thy/ (em´pah-the) intellectual and emotional awareness and understanding of another's thoughts, feelings, and behavior.empath´ic
empathy
empathy,
em·pa·thy ( m p -th )n. 1. Direct identification with, understanding of, and vicarious experience of another person's situation, feelings, and motives. 2. The projection of one's own feelings or emotional state onto an object or animal. em  pa·thetic (-tht k), em·pathic (-p thk) adj. |
empathy
[em′pəthē]
Etymology: Gk, en, in, pathos, feeling
the ability to recognize and to some extent share the emotions and states of mind of another and to understand the meaning and significance of that person's behavior. It is an essential quality for effective psychotherapy. Compare sympathy. empathic, adj., empathize, v.
empathy,
n the quality of putting oneself into the psychologic frame of reference of another, so that the other person's feeling, thinking, and acting are understood and to some extent predictable. A desirable trust-building characteristic of a helping profession. It is embodied in the sincere statement, “I understand how you feel.” Empathy is different from sympathy in that to be empathetic one understands how the person feels rather than actually experiencing those feelings, as in sympathy.
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