Hi James,

happy to answer your spot-on question on what the essential differences between empathy in design and emotion-focused therapy (EFT) might be.

• EFT as coined by Sue Johnson is an approach in systemic therapy and also couple therapy. From the get go, she focuses on the (romantic) relationship and the issues of bonding, attachment, of the dyad whereas in “empathy in design” (EID), there is no assumed unit of focus. In EID, it can be user-focused and take into account how he/she feels using this product or that service, it can be group-, dyad- or system-focused, too.
• I observed for most EID content, that professionals came via the non-psychology/social work route. So a product designer, or engineer starts to wonder more about the human-centered aspects and then goes “Heuraka! Emotions & Empathy” whereas in EFT, professionals often came via the psychology/social work route and then circle in on product, the service journey etc.
• I also believe that EFT falls more into the field of multiplistic, eclectic, post-modern schools of thought. An EFT therapist will look at two people’s subjective stories. Of course, the therapist believes in certain truths, yet there is more openness to post modern thinking whereas EID (here attributed to IDEO) falls into the one field of dominant stories/ modern thinking as in: there is one celebrated way of doing best empathic design, and that is evidenced by…

Looking forward to your feedback on this :)