Mindfulness and Empathy Among Counseling and Psychotherapy Professionals: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Cooper, David; Yap, Keong; O’Brien, Maureen; Scott, India

doi:10.1007/s12671-020-01425-3

Cited by 21 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…(1) MBIs, (2) empathy, therapeutic alliance and/or psychotherapy/ counselling results and (3) psychotherapists (Table 1). In addition, previous systematic reviews were checked for articles that met the inclusion criteria (Cooper et al, 2020;Lamothe et al, 2016). This systematic review was carried out according to the preferred reporting elements for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) (Moher et al, 2009).…”

Section: Key Practitioner Messagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet, another review observed that the implementation of a series of interventions, including MBIs, could increase empathy in medical professionals (Kelm et al, 2014). Finally, in a recent meta‐analysis of experimental and correlational studies, no evidence was found on the benefits of an MBI on the empathy of psychotherapists (Cooper et al, 2020). However, there are no systematic reviews or meta‐analyses that study the effect of an MBI on the therapeutic alliance or on the effects that an MBI received by psychotherapists may have on the symptoms of patients.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effectiveness of mindfulness‐based interventions on psychotherapy processes: A systematic review

Garrote-Caparrós

Bellosta-Batalla

Moya-Albiol

et al. 2021

Clin Psychology and Psychoth

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In the field of psychotherapy, scientific research has highlighted the importance of empathy and therapeutic alliance in regard to the effectiveness and better results of psychological treatments. In recent years, mindfulness‐based interventions (MBIs) have shown to be effective at increasing empathy and therapeutic alliance and how this could affect the patients' symptomatology. In this study, we conducted a systematic review of the effectiveness of MBIs applied to psychotherapists to improve their empathy, the therapeutic alliance and the patients' symptomatology. Sixteen studies evaluating the impact of an MBI on some of these variables were identified, of which six included measures evaluated by the patients whose psychotherapists received the MBI. The risk of bias of the included studies was analysed following the methodological standards. We found very different designs and methodologies in the studies included in this review, with few of them including a control group. The results show a limited increase in empathy, measured by the psychotherapist, after an MBI. However, the results in therapeutic alliance are not conclusive, as well as the improvements in the perception of patients about their symptomatology. It is concluded that MBIs can have a beneficial effect on the psychotherapeutic practice, through the development of psychotherapists' empathy. Future research would require new studies with a higher methodological quality, and in which the effects of MBIs on empathy, therapeutic alliance and patients' symptomatology and the relationships between them are analyzed.

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Section: Key Practitioner Messagementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of mindfulness‐based interventions on psychotherapy processes: A systematic review

Garrote-Caparrós

Bellosta-Batalla

Moya-Albiol

et al. 2021

Clin Psychology and Psychoth

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Previous studies have explored the preconditions of empathy and found that mindfulness can promote empathy in individuals [ 29 ]. Mindfulness has been found to improve empathy among counselors [ 30 ], adolescents with a history of childhood abuse [ 31 ], college students [ 32 ], adults [ 33 ], and couples [ 34 ]. Researchers have examined specific groups of people and found that mindfulness enhanced the empathy of nurses [ 35 ] and ICU staff [ 36 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Loving-Kindness Meditation on Doctors’ Mindfulness, Empathy, and Communication Skills

Chen

Liu

Cao

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Background: In the context of increasing doctor–patient tensions in China, the objective of this study was to explore and examine the effects of loving-kindness meditation (LKM) on doctors’ mindfulness, empathy, and communication skills. Methods: A total of 106 doctors were recruited from a hospital in China, and randomly divided into an LKM training group (n = 53) and waiting control group (n = 53). The LKM training group received 8 weeks of LKM training intervention, whereas the control group received no intervention. Three major variables (mindfulness, empathy, and communication skills) were measured before (pre-test) and after (post-test) the LKM training intervention. Results: The empathy and communication skills of the LKM group were significantly improved compared with those of the control group, but the level of mindfulness did not significantly change. Conclusions: The results suggested that LKM may contribute to improving physicians’ empathy and communication skills. However, the mechanisms that underlie the effects of the LKM on mindfulness, empathy, and communication skills and other psychological constructs needs further elucidation.

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“…These analyses also caution that improvements could be made to future studies in the form of active controls, trained professionals, longer follow-ups, as well as suggesting that MBPs may have specific effects on some common mental health symptoms, but due to the heterogeneity between studies generalization of MBPs effects across settings is not supported [7]. This latter point is congruent with Cooper's (2020) [11] conclusion of their meta-analysis of mindfulness and empathy in studies of counsellors and psychotherapists. They found no overall altered levels of empathy for Counsellors and Psychotherapists, but caution about generalizing from healthcare professionals or the general population to this group (note that Kreplin et al [12].…”

Section: Mindfulness In Therapeutic Researchmentioning

confidence: 56%

Holy be the Lay: A Way to Mindfulness Through Christian Poetry

Kempton¹

2021

OBM ICM

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Mindfulness practices have exploded in popularity in public awareness and in therapeutic applications. While mindfulness in a therapeutic context is presented as a secular practice, its primarily Buddhist heritage may make some Christian clients wary of engaging. Research indicates that both reflection (co-creation) on poetry and creation of poetry can be therapeutic, and that both Buddhist and secular/therapeutic mindfulness texts use poetry to convey meaning through key themes of nature, change/impermanence, stages of practice, and acceptance. Taken together poetry offers a pathway to mindfulness, which in this article is applied to the Christian client. Examples are given of: how mindfulness-based practices are in accordance with Christian teachings (e.g., grace theology), that poetic practices already exist in Christian traditions (e.g., Lectio Divina and the Prayer of the Heart), and themes previously identified in Buddhist and secular/therapeutic mindfulness related poetry, are also present in Christian poetry. It is argued that poetry can provide an appropriate and palatable vehicle for introducing Christian clients to mindfulness, which allows for the individual’s spirituality to be harnessed as a mediator of the benefits of mindfulness practice.

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Mindfulness and Empathy Among Counseling and Psychotherapy Professionals: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Cited by 21 publications

References 57 publications

Effectiveness of mindfulness‐based interventions on psychotherapy processes: A systematic review

Effectiveness of mindfulness‐based interventions on psychotherapy processes: A systematic review

Effects of Loving-Kindness Meditation on Doctors’ Mindfulness, Empathy, and Communication Skills

Holy be the Lay: A Way to Mindfulness Through Christian Poetry

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