Empathy

These days when mental well-being is being discussed the buzz words include ‘empathy’. What we mean by empathy is that one should have the ability to understand, recognize, and share the thoughts and feelings of another person. It can also be described as placing yourself in someone else’s shoes and see things from their perspective. Empathy can help us show and bring more compassion in our behaviors and relationships.

It is important to be able to distinguish between sympathy and empathy. When we sympathize we feel concern for someone and wish well for them, whereas when we empathize we feel what the other person is feeling or experiencing. So while the former is more about getting a firsthand feel of what the other person may be going through.

When we listen to someone narrate their problem, we usually jump in to say how to may be fix the problem. We try to make them feel better and see the bright side of things and start our responses with words like ‘but’ or ‘at least’. In contrast if we empathize we could say I am sorry you are feeling this way. I had been through something similar and can understand the feeling. In this manner we are able to connect more with the person with shared feelings instead of offering a different perspective.

There are basically three types of empathy. First is cognitive empathy which means you are able to put yourself into someone’s place and see things how they see them. It does this without engaging too much with their emotions. You tend to understand where they are coming from but without much sympathy.

Secondly, we have emotional empathy where you feel the other person’s emotions along with them as if you are experiencing them first hand. It’s like when a mother smiles at her child and the child can connect immediately and smiles back as if he/she felt the emotion of happiness in the mother and shared it in the moment.

Last of all is companionate empathy, which is not only connect to someone’s pain or others feeling and take an action to help. We don’t just want someone to only understand or just feel the pain but rather to have someone who could understand and empathize to what you are going through.

At Parvarish Recovery Center we understand the value of empathy in our one-on-one counselling. Our team of clinical phycologist and therapist at PRC rehabilitation center Karachi, built our rapport with the clients practicing empathy. We recognize that empathy is important in counselling and can move mountains in the progress of clients receiving addiction treatment.

Through our family programs, we at PRC Clifton Karachi, help the family members to equip with skills of being more empathetic towards their loved one to bridge any gaps or bounding between the two. Responses like anger, shame, or frustration towards someone struggling with substance use disorder can push them away causing a breakdown of communication.

Our treatment rehabilitation Karachi, then in stills in addicts themselves the empathetic approach when dealing with others. Over period of time the addict is accustomed into selfish behaviors and thinking and having no regards for their friends and loved ones. We tr to make them relearn of how to see things from someone else’s perspective. However, at Parvarish Recovery Center we place an importance on empathy not only towards others but above all towards themselves. We encourage our clients to see their addiction as a disease and to have that compassion for themselves to understand that their addiction is not only a matter of choices, they have made rather then shaming themselves of falling prey to weaknesses, they need to give themselves a chance to rebuild their broken relationships by managing their disease and only this can help push their rehabilitation and treatment to recover successfully.