The aim of psychotherapy has many faces; even the purposes of a single broad approach lend themselves to differing emphases (Barrett-Lennard, 1990, p. 128). This chapter explores an aspect widely focused on as a crucial feature of therapist response but largely neglected as an axis of client change.In the perspective developed here, an impairment of empathy for others can be both an effect and a cause of suffering, and is frequently an implicit issue for the person seeking relief and help through psychotherapy. The voluntary client usually experiences deprivation in some form and anxiety or conflict within the self. He or she is likely to feel in fear of or unable to call on aspects of self. In other language, there are areas in which the person is not open to experience. One might say further that there is a loss or lack of self-empathy.To be able to speak carefully about self-empathy, an accompanying focus on the way that "self' is conceived is necessary. Building on prior person-centered thought, some fresh distinctions are worked out in the early part of this chapter. These lay the ground for inquiry into the process of selfempathy and its relation to interpersonal empathy. The growth of empathic engagement with self and others is viewed as a crucial potential effect of therapy and further explored in this context. Available evidence from research bearing on issues and ideas set forth is considered, and a plea is made for more directly pertinent studies.