What prevents empathy?

This week, the sex offenders in my Empathy group talked about what factors have prevented them from feeling empathy for someone. A lot of things interfered with them having empathy, including feeling anger toward that person, feeling entitled, not taking responsibility for their actions, justifying their behavior to themselves, numbing their feelings, and being selfish. The art work ranged from depicting the situation to symbolically representing the feelings involved. This Art Therapy directive helped the patients be more aware of what can prevent them from feeling empathy, so they can more consciously work toward not letting that happen.