The course of child development is a multidimensional one, and while evidence suggests that children are maturing physically more quickly than ever before, there are big questions about whether they are sufficiently developed emotionally and psychologically before they enter serious relationships and start making babies.

Young children need someone to look at the same things they are looking at to enjoy or understand their own experiences fully. This is a deep need that stays with us for life and perhaps explains something about how therapy works.

Empathy facilitates understanding between counsellors and clients who do not speak the same language. What about online therapy, in which the language is there, without the bodily resonant experience of empathy?

Humankind has come a long way over the eons in terms of how we communicate with one another. But so much of what we say to one another still isn’t captured by the words we speak or the text we type.

You’re going about your daily business and suddenly some music starts and a man or woman next to you begins singing along; other people join in, and before you know it, you’re witnessing what seems to be a random group of people coming together to perform a kind of miracle — a shared experience of sheer delight.

The ‘cuddly hormone’, oxytocin, seems to have a dark side, according to research suggesting that it only works on those who are within our own group. But does this say anything about our real lives?

In a multicultural society, it’s inevitable that counsellors, like everyone else, will come across people whose first or even second language is not English. But if therapist and client are — quite literally — speaking different languages, how can therapeutic work even begin to take place? The answer lies in the gift of empathy.