Preface

As we are writing this in April 2020, the world is exposed to threats of the COVID-19 pandemic, and countries all across the world are suffering enormous damage. We want to express condolences to the deceased and their families, sympathy for patients battling COVID-19, appreciation for medical staff, administrative officers, and persons sustaining lifelines, thanks to citizens cooperating with the containment of COVID-19, and reassurance and courage for persons feeling anxiety and fear of infection.

Some cities have locked down and citizens are required to practice social distancing in order to prevent further spread of the virus. Therefore, once-vibrant cities have changed into quiet and empty ones in the course of just a few weeks or months. We citizens are deprived of our mundane everyday activities like meeting with friends, going out to eat, enjoying music concerts, watching sports, and commuting to school or work using public transportation.

Although we are far apart, we have found ways to engage in acts of unity, for example clapping or lighting candles at the same time in order to thank medical staff on the frontlines of this pandemic. These actions express empathy stemming from togetherness and shared suffering.

Empathy is explained by Hiraki, a counselor following the client-centered approach of therapy put forth by Carl Ransom Rogers, as the counselor's ability to get into the client's phenomenological world and experience it as if it is one's own without losing the "as if" quality of it. The "as if" quality means that the counselor puts aside how they feel and accepts the client's thoughts and feelings without evaluating. While accepting the client as they are, counselors must not be implicated. Not having the "as if" quality is a sign of being self-centered and not possessing true empathy.

Empathy is a significant skill for caregivers in order to help people in distress to heal. Sitting beside and listening closely to the person, hugging, touching, and stroking them in order to express empathy for their sadness sometimes has a healing effect on them. In other words, reducing social distance promotes empathy between the caregiver and the recipient of care, and helps the recipient heal. However, in the world changed by COVID-19, we cannot rely on reducing social distance to express empathy. Therefore, we must consider different ways to express empathic attitudes and deliberate on how to foster empathy while maintaining social distance. Empathy is more urgently needed in times of emergency than in peacetime, to confront difficulties in unity and to heal hurt people. Even national leaders need to possess empathy in addition to strong leadership qualities, so that they can imagine the suffering of the people as if it is happening to themselves.

*Empathy Study* is a sequel to *Empathy: An Evidence-based Interdisciplinary Perspective.*  Chapters in this book cover topics such as transpersonal caring, learning to be empathic in social school, autism and psychopathy, emotional labor, and critical thinking in social work training. The main theme of empathy is developed and discussed according to various perspectives. We hope that this book helps readers

gain an in-depth understanding of empathy. We also hope that the COVID-19 pandemic will end soon and that we return to our peaceful daily lives with personto-person connections and interactions that foster empathy, such as meetings, hugs, handshakes, eating together, and talking. If we must keep social distance in the changed world, empathy is an outstanding ability common to all humankind that can help us overcome the hardship.

#### **Makiko Kondo** Professor, Kagawa Prefectural University of Health Sciences,

### **Bala Nikku, PhD**

Kagawa, Japan

**1**

Section 1

Socialization and Empathy

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education and Social Work, School of Social Work and Human Service, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, British Colombia, Canada Section 1
