Exploring Therapeutic Empathic Presence through the “Now Moment”

an interdisciplinary integration

Abstract

Through an interdisciplinary focus on “now moments” in therapy, I argue that a multidimensional, developmentally-grounded framework for what I call “therapeutic empathic presence” can emerge that shows the crucial role that direct access empathy can play in the therapeutic encounter. I elaborate my framework through integrating perspectives from theories of mind, phenomenology (including neurophenomenology) and psychoanalysis and discuss intercorporeal and inter-affective elements as well as a psychoanalytic mutual recognitive concept. In all, I show that such presence involves an ethically-guided, mature empathy that involves authenticity and cultivated self- and self-other awareness. Key concepts are illustrated in a clinical vignette.