Empathic Validation

Commentary - Empathic Validation

In this video Anthony Bateman demonstrates empathic validation at the beginning of a session with a patient.

Empathic validation with the patient’s current state of mind is the initial stance of the MBT clinician at the beginning of every session. This requires the clinician to identify the basic or primary emotion and to demonstrate that he or she sees things from the patient perspective. This stabilizes the patient’s sense of self and reduces anxiety. If possible the clinician also needs to show that he understands the effect that the problem is having on the patient. In this case this is only partially achieved.