Empathy, self-other differentiation and mindfulness

[Extract] This chapter presents an approach to understanding the basic psychological processes underpinning the construction of a sense of self and the capacity to take the perspective of others. I describe the interplay between thinking about the self and other that results in empathic concern, personal distress, or a range of other more or less helpful affective responses in the presence of another person (Atkins & Parker, 2012). In brief, I describe how we can see self and other either at the level of (a) conceptualizations, (b) a fl ow of experiences, or (c) as awareness itself; and how the nature and extent of differentiation needed at each of these three levels to support empathy is distinct. The chapter then reviews evidence that mindfulness training demonstrably improves empathy and suggests that this positive effect is at least in part the result of a changed relationship to the self and improved perspective taking.