Winnett Home Page Directory Articles Newsletter Empathy in Communication by Azriel Winnett Empathy is vitally important in good communication.
Many people confuse empathy with sympathy, but empathy is much more.
This is what happens when you express a feeling oridea and the person you are speaking to contradicts or rejects it. And when the emotion happens to be anxiety, sorrow, fear or the like, the rejection can be very painful. Interestingly, the pain of rejection can be even more profound when the other party bears no ill will towards you. Indeed, the person you have confided in may sincerely believe she is offering you encouragement. But she fails miserably, because there is no empathy.