Empathy and the unconscious

The author examines the complex relationship between the concepts of empath y and unconscious, including exploration Of topical, st structural, and dyn amic aspects; and the risk of oversimplification of empathy is discussed. T wo clinical examples are then presented to demonstrate some of the complex factors that may contribute to or hinder the development and utilization of empathy by the analyst, many of which lie outside the analyst's conscious awareness.