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Empathy recognizes that access into another Person’s conscious experience is only partial. As we do not directly access another person’s experiences, individuals are truly separate. Individual experiences are not directly connected. The acknowledgement of this boundary between individuals is part of authentic empathy. Paradoxically, as a result of this recognition, the other person becomes less illusionary and more real.

 

我們必須承認，我們不能直接進入別人的經歷中，對別人施予「同理心」也只能局部。個體是獨立的，人與人之間的經歷不是直接連繫的。當我們承認個體之間的界限，這才是發揮真正的同理心。矛盾的是，當我們承認並接納「同理心」的限制，我們對他人的幻想會減滅，他人會變得更加真實。

The mind’s capacity of handling sequential linguistic representations (in which units are arranged in a linear order) is limited. There is a tension for resource allocation in the brain between massively parallel representations and limited-capacity sequenced handling of linguistic categories. The ability to reduce the number of feature-dimensions in constructs becomes important. Some of the more complex information are reduced to simpler ideas which can be more readily handled by the mind using a structure supported by human linguistic capacities.

 

在我們的內心，語言單位是以線性序列的方式排列處理，容量有一定限制。內心要同一時間處理大量並行表徵，這對大腦的有限記憶能力構成了很大的挑戰，如何有效分配大腦資源？大腦處理的方法是，以簡單意念代表複雜的信息，即是把「構念」的特徵減到最少，於是大腦便能夠透過語言結構去處理複雜信息。

Adequate assessments therefore includes both a longitudinal and a cross-sectional perspective. In the longitudinal perspective, developmental changes over time are highlighted. Key processes involved in shaping the life course of the patient are identified. The viewpoint is not from the patient’s “insider” perspective, but from an “outsider’s” perspective, looking at objective environmental and developmental factors that are associated with the illness. The clinician’s application of clinical categories is an inherent process in a clinical interview, where action is expected as an outcome. However, premature application of these categories may mislead the psychopathological phenomenological evaluation. Explicit articulation of the processes involved in psychopathological assessment may allow us to estimate the limits to which psychiatric assessments can be compressed without compromising its informational quality.

 

對病人作出臨床評估，其中包括縱向角度和橫向角度。採取縱向角度，臨床工作者會留心病人的發展歷程和改變，找出塑造病人生命歷程的關鍵事件。重點是從「局外人」視點出發，而不是「局內人」視點出發。目的是審視與疾病相關的客觀環境和發展因素。採取縱向角度，臨床工作者會運用病徵分類於臨床面談中，為的是幫助臨床工作者決定接續採取的行動。須留意的是，太早套用這些分類，會引導臨床工作者作出精神病現象的錯誤評估。要有效進行精神病理評估，我們必須明白評估的限制，在壓縮評估時間之餘，也要重視資訊質素。