EMPATHY AND THE WORKING ALLIANCE - THE MISTRANSLATION OF FREUD EINFUHLUNG

The working alliance has emerged as an important theoretical construct in both psychotherapeutic practice and research. Concordantly, a grea t: deal of attention has been paid to the therapist's contributions to the working alliance, with empathy having been posited by a number of writers as a necessary condition for a strong attachment between pati ent and therapist. Although Freud has been recognized for laying the t heoretical groundwork for what is today called the working alliance, h e has generally not been credited with making an association between e mpathy and the therapeutic relationship. It is the aim of this article to demonstrate that (a) in 1913, Freud did in fact posit empathy as a necessary condition for the therapeutic relationship; and (b) this ha s been overlooked by English-speaking readers due to a translation err or.