Discursive empathy : a new foundation for therapeutic practice/ created by

This article represents a poststructuralist critique and review of the role of empathy in the therapeutic relationship. Incorporating Foucauldian contributions, we seek to expand upon the largely liberal-humanistic descriptions about the nature of empathy, which in our view fail to acknowledge fully the impact of culture in the therapy arena. In focusing our attention on re-examining the nature and role of empathy in counselling practice, we explicitly show how the poststructural conceptual tools of discourse, positioning, and deconstruction promote greater movement toward a reconceptualisation of empathy that fully appreciates the extent to which our clients’ experiences are necessarily a sociocultural production. In addition, it is proposed that further application of the poststructuralist approach will highlight the potency of this metaphor for understanding the discursive production of problems and for connecting and empathising with clients in a way that is reflexive, respectful, and socially just.