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To establish sound empirical evidence that clinical empathy (abbreviated as CE) is a core element in the clinician–patient relationship with profound therapeutic potential, a substantial theoretical-based understanding of CE in medical care and medical education is still required. The two aims of the present paper are, therefore, (1) to give a multidisciplinary overview of the “nature” and “specific effectiveness” of CE, and (2) to use this base as a means of deriving relevant questions for a theory-based research agenda.

We made an effort to identify current and past literature about conceptual and empirical work focusing on empathy and CE, which derives from a multiplicity of disciplines. We review the material in a structured fashion.

We describe the “nature” of empathy by briefly summarizing concepts and models from sociology, psychology, social psychology, education, (social …