What is it about?
We present the results of our Reflexive Thematic Analysis of our interviews with twelve practicing Lacanian analysts about their views on empathy and what place if any it has in their analytic practice. Participants shared ways of being empathic that aim to respect the difference of the patient.
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Why is it important?
The field of Lacanian psychoanalysis tends to see the practice of empathy within analysis as unethical insofar as it typically obliterates the singularity and difference of the other/patient in its presumption of being able to understand. Our results indicated that, while participants warned against the dangers of imagining you can understand the other's experience, there are ways to be empathic which are in line with Lacanian ethics--and that these might already be used by both Lacanians and psychoanalysts from other traditions.
Perspectives
I hope that this research brings Lacanian psychoanalysis into the already occurring rich conversations about the faces of empathy within the broader field of psychoanalysis.
Stephanie Swales
Dublin City University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Empathy and Lacanian psychoanalysis? A qualitative study., Psychoanalytic Psychology, October 2025, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/pap0000559.
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