Saturday, May 2, 2009

Empathy preventing a negative behavior

This week, my group created drawings to represent a time they felt empathy and it prevented them from doing something negative. One group member reported that empathy for one of his friends prevented him from giving her drugs, after she revealed she was pregnant. The topic also brought up discussion about not doing something negative as a result of feeling empathy versus knowing right from wrong. Some patients were able to relate this Art Therapy directive to their sex offenses, a few of them admitting they had no empathy for their victims prior to offending. This exercise can help the offender be more aware of how empathy can help them do the right thing.

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