THE ROLE OF SELF-CARE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF EMPATHY OF FUTURE PSYCHOLOGISTS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of empathy and its development in future psychologists. It is noted that empathy, as the ability to understand the inner world of another person, and sympathize with him or her, is one of the most important professional qualities for psychologists and one of the factors of the success of their professional activity. However, an excessive empathic concern may be a risk factor for burnout. It was found that psychologists can use 5 forms of empathic response in their work: understanding, challenge, research, assumption, and interpretation. These forms of response require the use of cognitive thinking processes and are more like a skill that can be developed and trained. At the same time, the cognitive costs of empathy may force future psychologists to avoid it.
As a result of the conducted empirical research, it was noticed that empathy is underdeveloped in future psychologists. It was found that 10.5% of final year students have a very low level of empathy, 36.8% have an undervalued level, 52.6% have an average level of empathy, and no student was found with a high level of empathy. The empathy scores of the final year students are lower compared to the 3rd and 2nd year students, which can be explained by the increased level of personal stress and anxiety of the graduates before their further life and professional trajectory. It was also found out that besides personal stress, the ability of empathic response is impaired due to the frequent sleep deprivation traced in students. Based on the theoretical analysis, it is substantiated that for the development of healthy empathy of future psychologists, which would not further lead to sensory overload and emotional exhaustion, self-care skills that are formed on the basis of self-awareness, mindfulness and self-reflection should become extremely important. These require vulnerability, which can cause feelings of insecurity and even shame. But it is vital for psychologists to recognize that their mistakes and failures are not special; or different from what they see in others when they show empathy and sympathy. Everyone experiences pain, loneliness, despair, and inadequacy, but only by sharing this as part of a shared humanity we can understand that we are not alone. The driving force behind the cultivation of empathy is the desire to develop empathy and the belief in the possibilities of its development.