A client remarks that he was just dumped by his girlfriend. The counselor responds, 'Oh, you poor dear. It must be terrible! How can you go on living?' This is an example of:

• A. Empathy
• B. Confrontation
• C. Sympathy
• D. Inquiry

Answer: (C)

Sympathy involves feeling pity for someone’s situation without fully attuning to or reflecting their inner emotional experience. The counselor’s line expresses pity—“Oh, you poor dear… How can you go on living?”—and places the client in a passive, pitied role rather than seeking to understand or validate what he’s feeling. An empathic response would acknowledge and reflect the client’s emotions, such as naming the feeling and inviting more about what he’s experiencing. Confrontation or inquiry would involve challenging the client or asking questions to explore his experience, which isn’t what this reply does. So this is best described as sympathy.