ABSTRACT

It is within and through the body that we experience the physical, social, and emotional dimensions of life. This view draws on the existential phenomenological principal of embodiment, as described by French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Empathy is considered essential in the social work professional encounter. Prevailing conceptualisations of empathy in social work rely on simulation theory, where the social worker is expected to emulate the internal emotional and mental state of the client. Phenomenologists question the ontological plausibility of this conceptualisation. Their principal critiques are of mirroring, perspective-taking, and the associated emotional and intellectual labour. Expanding on phenomenological research, we suggest an alternate conceptualisation of empathy that integrates embodiment in social work theory, education, and practice. An embodied approach entails an interpretivist lens of subjectivity, direct perception of another’s emotional state, sensitively and bodily attending to narrative, and adopting a compassionate stance of both “understanding and not understanding”.

• IMPLICATIONS

• Empathy is an emotion-driven construct. Current views of empathy in social work rely on mentally simulating clients’ emotions.

• Emotions are embodied in that they are physically felt and expressed. The body is therefore a powerful instrument for better understanding and empathising with clients.

• Future conceptualisations of empathy used in social work theory, education, and practice would benefit from taking an embodied approach.

抽象的

在身体内部和通过身体，我们体验到生活的物理，社会和情感维度。如法国哲学家莫里斯·梅洛·庞蒂（Maurice Merleau-Ponty）所描述的，这种观点借鉴了体现的存在现象学原理。移情被认为是社会工作专业遭遇中必不可少的。社会工作中普遍存在的移情概念依赖于模拟理论，在该理论中，社会工作者应模仿客户的内部情感和心理状态。现象学家质疑这种概念化的本体论合理性。他们的主要批评是镜像，观点取景以及相关的情感和智力劳动。在现象学研究的扩展方面，我们建议将共情化的替代概念整合到社会工作理论，教育，和练习。体现的方法需要主观的解释主义视角，对他人的情感状态的直接感知，敏感和身体地参与叙事，以及采取“理解与不理解”的富有同情心的立场。

• 含意

• 同理心是一种情感驱动的建构。当前社会工作中的同理心观依赖于在心理上模拟客户的情绪。

• 情感体现在身体的感受和表达中。因此，身体是一种强大的工具，可以帮助客户更好地理解和理解。

• 社会工作理论，教育和实践中使用的移情的未来概念将受益于采取具体化的方法。