Are Religiously Integrated Therapists More Empathic?

Abstract

Reports on research designed to answer the following questions: “Is religious integration of therapists positively related to their capacity for empathy?” and “Does pastoral counseling training facilitate greater increases in religious integration and/or capacity for empathy of its students than those in counseling and clinical psychology programs?” Concludes, after analyzing the data secured from students (N = 167) from several programs, that religious integration of therapists is an important contributing factor to their capacity for empathy but raises questions about whether training is effective in increasing such integration.