Does shared lived experience enhance empathy? An enquiry.
This interesting enquiry presented itself as a theme recently during a few of my meetings with supervisees as they considered their encounters with clients in the context of therapy. I guess no-one wants their therapist to say: ‘Oh! I know exactly how you feel! The same thing happened to me!’ and then launch into their own story. The situation and circumstances may feel similar, but they won’t be the same. Just because we’ve experienced something similar doesn’t mean that we know how the other person feels. Therapy is a space for the client to explore their thoughts, feelings and experiences. This would feel like a massive intrusion. So obviously this would be crass and unhelpful. Yet, I can remember a friend approaching me to talk to me about a particular predicament because she knew I’d been through something similar and she said ‘I know you’ll understand.’ I was aware our situations were slightly different, but I sense what she w...
