Chapter 5: Support and Empathy: A Sustaining Presence

A Supportive Presence

• A supportive presence is essential for developing a trusting relationship.

• Trust enables meaningful conversation to take place.

• Clinician’s care and support cannot be conveyed through listening alone.

• Communication of support involves carefully timed words, gestures, behaviors, and emotional responses.

• All these elements together create an active presence and convey the desire to help.

A Supportive Presence- 9 Areas

• Warmth and Caring​

• Clinical Repose​

• Acceptance​

• Genuineness​

• Availability

• Validation of the Client’s Story​

• Identifying and Affirming Strengths​

• Provision of Concrete Supports​

• Advocacy

Warmth and Caring

• Clinicians must genuinely care about clients and their well-being.

• Clients respond more positively to interviewers who are warm and caring, rather than those who seem cold or bureaucratic.

• Warmth and caring can be conveyed through actions like a smile, handshake, close attention, and appropriate facial expressions and gestures.

• Some clients may prefer a more detached clinician, but most still want to feel cared for.

• People often rate warmth and caring highly as desirable attributes in a clinician, mentor, or adviser.

• Clinicians may struggle to find the right balance in showing caring—too detached may seem impersonal, while overly emotional responses may feel insincere.

• Clinicians should avoid fake smiles, counterfeit approval, or false reassurance (e.g., "Things will get better"), as clients can often sense inauthenticity.

• Inauthentic behavior can undermine trust and hinder the development of a positive, trusting relationship.

• Warmth and caring are relational processes that arise through interaction with others, nature, or spiritual experiences.

Clinical Repose

• A clinician’s anchored and relaxed presence helps clients stay focused on themselves without distractions from the clinician’s needs or anxieties.

• This calm presence creates a stable, unobtrusive environment that supports the work and the relationship.

• Clients learn to rely on the clinician to remain steady and centered, even during unexpected events.

• A clinical environment can be created anywhere, providing a safe and supportive space for conversation.

• Clinical repose is built with experience, helping to relax and reassure clients, giving them confidence in the clinician’s reliability.

• Repose is expressed through a relaxed posture, open gaze, and calm, confident demeanor.

• Students may feel that adopting a professional tone makes them lose their natural warmth or spontaneity and can make them self-conscious.

• Over time, with experience and supervision, clinicians learn to balance self-awareness and control with genuine warmth and caring, making the process feel more natural.

‘Holding environment’ -social workers set the tone

Anchored, client-centered, and caring presence​
Allows the client to stay self- and problem-focused without distraction or fear of judgment or abandonment​
**Deliberate yet warm​
**Calm and confident manner​

Acceptance: Unconditional positive regard​

• Acceptance is crucial for sustaining a supportive presence.

• Clinicians should appreciate and affirm clients as individuals, without condoning harmful behaviors.

• Carl Rogers referred to this acceptance as "unconditional positive regard."

• Accepting clients as people can be challenging when their behaviors conflict with societal norms, personal values, or professional standards.

Acceptance is affected by​

• Societal Norms​

• Personal Values ​

• Stylistic Differences​

Societal Norms

• widely held standards of conduct to which all members of a society are expected to adhere

• Norms can be codified into laws (e.g., laws against incest, murder, and theft) and often prescribe gender roles, dress codes, and public/private behavior distinctions.

• Clinicians often work with clients who have violated social norms, either by breaking the law or engaging in behaviors considered socially inappropriate (e.g., talking to oneself in public, wearing clothes associated with the opposite gender).

• Some norms change over time (e.g., gender roles, dress), while others endure.

• Conflicts between societal norms and actual behavior can arise (e.g., the contradiction between the norm of two-parent families and the high divorce rate).

Pluralism

• Pluralism in society means multiple cultures may define their own norms, leading to potential conflicts when one group holds more power than another.

• Cultural differences can lead to misunderstandings in clinical practice (e.g., Native American beliefs about ghosts vs. clinical interpretation of delusions or hallucinations).

• Differences in norms regarding practices like corporal punishment may also cause cultural misunderstandings (e.g., corporal punishment seen as acceptable in some cultures, but considered child abuse in others).

• Clinicians should avoid confusing culturally influenced behaviors with behaviors linked to illness, addiction, or antisocial tendencies.

Culture-bound syndromes

• refer to behaviors that are specific to certain cultures, influenced by local cultural factors, and may be mistaken for mental health disorders.

Personal Values

• Individual values are deeply influenced by family and sociocultural factors, and clinicians may hold values that differ from their clients.

• Clinicians should be aware of their own values and how these may influence their responses, potentially leaving clients feeling unaccepted.

nonjudgmental stance

• A nonjudgmental stance is essential for creating a safe environment where clients can confide openly without fear of rejection or shame.

• Clinicians should respect clients’ dignity and worth, regardless of differences in values or beliefs.

• Helping professionals, particularly those from liberal backgrounds, may have values that differ from those of more conservative, working-class clients, potentially leading to hesitancy in seeking services.

Ethical responsibility

• Ethical responsibility requires clinicians to respect and affirm the dignity of all people, despite personal value differences.

• Clinical work exposes clinicians to diverse values and experiences, often expanding their perspective and fostering personal growth.

• Sometimes, clients’ shared values with clinicians affirm universal human connections, enhancing mutuality without needing to consider complete identity between the clinician and client.

Stylistic Differences.

• Personal style refers to individual habits and preferences in interactions, influenced by factors such as culture, gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, sexual orientation, and geography.

• Clients express their emotions and needs in different ways (e.g., some may raise their voice, others may cry or remain stoic).

• As clinicians develop professionally, they may find themselves more or less responsive to different client styles.

• Clinicians also have their own personal styles, ranging from formal to relaxed, serious to lighthearted, or open to more reserved.

• The key is that the clinician’s and client’s personal styles should not be so discordant that they hinder the focus of the work or become offensive.

• It is the clinician’s responsibility to create a supportive and harmonious interview environment, not the client’s.

• A clinician’s uncomfortable presence or judgmental attitude can signal lack of respect, empathy, and attunement to client needs.

• Research shows that therapists who are understanding, accepting, warm, empathic, and supportive contribute to positive client outcomes.

Interpersonal skills

• Interpersonal skills are a predictor of clinical success, with negative behaviors like blaming or rejecting decreasing effectiveness.

• Norms, values, and personal styles are interconnected, and understanding these requires reflection and sometimes supervision.

• Developing openness, respect for differences, and acceptance of clients is an ongoing, ethical responsibility for clinicians.

Genuineness

• Support must be genuine—sincere and free from pretense or hypocrisy.

• Carl Rogers' concept of genuineness or congruence emphasizes being open about persistent feelings in the therapeutic relationship and avoiding hiding behind professional masks.

• Genuineness differs from total honesty; not every truth needs to be spoken.

• Clinicians must be selective in their remarks and consider their impact on the client.

• Thoughtful communication is key: while not every thought needs to be shared, everything said should be meaningful and intentional.

• Clinicians must balance being authentic in their role while being deliberate in their actions and words.

Availability

• Clinicians must be physically and psychologically accessible to clients, creating a welcoming environment and offering flexible hours and services.

• Accessibility includes providing services in the client's preferred language and being culturally responsive.

Flexibility

• Flexibility is essential, as constraints like client schedules, financial limitations, and long-distance travel may limit face-to-face interactions.

• Clinicians can utilize various communication methods such as phone, email, Skype, videoconferencing, and encrypted internet exchanges to stay connected with clients.

Contact methods

• It is important to discuss preferred contact methods with clients, as some may prefer frequent email checks while others do so less often.

• Clinicians should be cautious with confidentiality when using electronic communication, ensuring sensitive information is only shared with client consent.

• At times, clinicians may offer additional contact during difficult periods, but this should be reviewed with supervisors to prevent unintended consequences, such as dependency or misuse of contact.

Support for clients

• In emergencies, clinicians may accompany clients to appointments or proceedings, with careful consideration and consultation with supervisors.

• Support networks can include family, friends, hotlines, inpatient stays, and support groups (e.g., AA, NA), helping reduce feelings of isolation or vulnerability.

• The effectiveness of support depends on positive attitudes, availability of interpreters, affordable transportation, and well-coordinated services.

Validation of the Client’s Story

• Validation involves endorsing and appreciating the client’s reality, helping them feel that their story is believable and their experiences are acknowledged.

• Universalizing is a technique that helps clients feel less isolated by framing their experiences as shared by others, reducing the sense of uniqueness or alienation.

Affirming Strengths

Transferability of skills: ​

The clinical concept asserting that one’s strengths, talents, or methods of coping in one situation might work well in others.​

Examples of universalizing

• “A lot of other people share that feeling.”

• “Who wouldn’t be nervous in a dark parking lot late at night!”

• “Most working moms like yourself have the same fear you do about being laid off or losing their benefits if they take a maternity leave.”

• “Join the crowd.”

Caution with universalizing:

• Some clients may need to feel unique and may react negatively to this approach, feeling misunderstood or dismissed.

• For clients who have felt deeply isolated, universalizing may be insufficient and could make them feel that the clinician is naive or inattentive to their unique struggles.

• Clinicians should observe the client's response to universalizing and adjust accordingly, exploring their feelings of uniqueness or alienation further if needed.

• The paradox of clinical work is that clients can feel both special in their experiences and comforted by knowing others share similar feelings or situations.

Identifying and Affirming Strengths

• Strengths perspective: Clinicians recognize clients' courage and persistence in working toward their goals, which helps build self-esteem and initiative.

• Recognizing and affirming strengths can help clients see that the strengths they use in one situation can be applied to other challenges, making problems seem more solvable.

• Affirming client strengths helps combat feelings of invisibility, marginalization, and powerlessness, enhancing clients' sense of belonging and personal efficacy.

• Clinicians can validate client strengths more effectively when they are secure in their own strengths and understand the importance of self-validation.

Provision of Concrete Supports

• Clinicians support clients by helping them access essential services, addressing basic human needs such as food, shelter, financial support, and education.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Basic needs must be met before individuals can focus on psychological concerns, emphasizing the importance of addressing concrete needs like safety and shelter before engaging in counseling.

Advocacy

• Work with social service agencies, other institutions, and social action groups to increase benefits, access, opportunities, justice, and rights for clients and all people ​

• Help clients get proper amount and kinds of services​

• Energizes the clinical work

Crisis intervention:

• In emergencies, immediate attention is given to basic needs (safety, food, clothing) before counseling or psychological work begins.

• Helping clients access services like food stamps, housing, or job training can build trust and a strong working alliance by demonstrating respect for their struggles.

• Clients appreciate clinicians who are proactive in helping navigate bureaucratic systems, showing understanding of daily life challenges.

• However, resourcefulness should be encouraged, as clients benefit from learning how to advocate for themselves and use available resources.

• The adage "teach a person to fish" reflects the importance of empowering clients to solve problems independently, rather than offering immediate, short-term fixes.

rescue fantasies

• Clinicians should avoid offering help driven by rescue fantasies, personal desire to be liked, or client demands, as it can lead to feelings of betrayal or being used.

• Lending money or offering personal services, like giving rides, is discouraged due to risks such as creating dependency or exposure to personal harm or liability.

Advocacy

• Advocacy is a crucial form of support where clinicians fight for client rights and opportunities.

• Clinicians engage in political activities and community movements to increase rights, protections, and access to resources for all individuals, including clients.

• Advocacy includes informing agencies or practice groups about services that are lacking or inaccessible to clients.

• Collaboration with colleagues and community groups is essential to improve the conditions in which services are provided.

• Clinicians advocate for adequate services by negotiating with insurance companies or other payers to ensure clients receive the necessary care.

• Advocacy work can boost client morale and hopefulness, energizing the clinical process and creating positive outcomes.

Empathy

• Supportive presence is essential at the start of the clinical relationship, creating cordiality, interest, and openness.

• However, empathy is crucial for moving the relationship forward, allowing clinicians to immerse themselves in the client's experience while maintaining their own sense of self.

The Three Facets of Empathy

• Cognitive empathy (perspective taking): Understanding the intentions, desires, and beliefs of another person—"I understand."

• Emotional empathy: Sharing the sensations or emotions of another person—"I feel your pain."

• Emotional regulation: The ability to manage one's own emotional reactions, maintaining an outside perspective to remain calm and compassionate, while engaging in helpful behaviors.

Empathy involves:

• Understanding the client's perspective (cognitive empathy).

• Experiencing the client’s emotional state (emotional empathy).

• Self-regulating emotions to maintain compassion and avoid being overwhelmed by the client's pain.

  Empathy requires a balance between observing, feeling, and thinking about the client’s experience.

Empathy in Context

• Empathy is not just imagining oneself in the other person's shoes, but experiencing the world as the client experiences it—"what it is like to be that person."

• The clinician must understand the client’s social context and cultural influences to provide authentic empathy.

• Inclusive cultural empathy: Clinicians and clients come together as individuals with unique cultural backgrounds, requiring respect and exploration of both the client’s and clinician's cultural influences.

• Empathy involves understanding shared and differing cultural expectations between clinician and client, impacting how problems are related to and resolved.

The Neuroscience of Empathy

• Neuroscience research shows that empathy has neurological underpinnings, particularly through mirror neurons, which activate when we observe another's behavior or emotional state, similar to experiencing it ourselves.

• Mirror neurons enable us to understand and identify with others' experiences, serving as the biological basis for empathy.

Three facets of empathy involve different brain areas:

• Cognitive empathy (understanding the client's perspective) is linked to the prefrontal cortex.

• Affective empathy (feeling what the client feels) is associated with the limbic system.

• Emotional regulation (self-soothing emotional responses) is connected to the orbitofrontal cortex and other cortical areas.

Clinical empathy is more than being empathic. Stuart Mercer and William Reynolds (2002) define three components of clinical empathy:

1. Developing empathy: learning how to understand the perspective and feelings of the client

2. Communicating empathy: effectively communicating that understanding to the client and checking with the client about its accuracy

3. Using empathy: acting on that understanding in a helpful way in the clinical relationship

Developing Empathy

• Empathy is innate, but not everyone can demonstrate it, especially those who have experienced disruptions in their ability to empathize.

• Disturbances in empathy can occur due to early childhood issues or later life stresses, impairing the formation of mirror neurons necessary for empathic behavior

• Compassion fatigue can affect caregivers who become emotionally drained from constant empathic caregiving, leading to emotional detachment and avoidance

• Members of oppressed groups may show empathy within their own group but may distance themselves emotionally from outsiders, including clinicians, as a protective measure

• Despite barriers, empathy can be enhanced through various means.

Communicating Empath: Moving from feeling empathic to being empathic

• Effectively communicating understanding to client​

• Checking with client about accuracy​

• Supportive sounds/ filler words– “I see”, “yes”, “ah”, “Ohhh”, “mm”​

• Mirroring: A skill in which the clinician subtly matches the client’s posture, facial expression, and gestures, while being careful not to mimic or parrot them, in order to increase rapport and empathy. ​

• Following where the client is ​

• Can be used as a physical form of reflection. ​

• Behavioral synchrony: The participants in a conversation often change their postures, gestures, and mannerisms to match each other. Sometimes without noticing. ​

• Reflection of Content /paraphrasing: Verbal reflection of client’s story, Clinician shares client’s perspective, paraphrases verbally what the client has said​

• Empathic Echo – a verbal reflection of the client’s story. Could be behaviors, thoughts, affect, and meaning in the context. ​

  ​

  Some reasons to use Empathic Echo​

  • We are listening​

  • Increase client’s feeling of being attended closely​

  • Increase client’s feeling of being understood​

Using Empathy

• Acting on that understanding in a helpful way in the clinical relationship​

• Demonstrates support and caring- we care our clients​

• Encourages client self-disclosure- unconditional positive regard and trust​

• Builds the working alliance- feeling both seen and understood. Did I get this right- feedback​

• Serves as the basis for clinical hunches​

• Advanced empathy: ​

  -What client has not yet verbalized ​

  -What client may not yet be aware of​

  -Reflecting what lies beneath the surface to help the client gain new perspective. ‘story behind the story’​

Empathy is a developmental process that can be consciously fostered and strengthened by:

• Experiencing mutuality

• Relational awareness

• Mindfulness and meditation

• Learning how to read facial cues

• Role-playing

• Gathering information

• Increasing experiences with others

• Practice and supervision

Mutual Empathy

• Mutual empathy development is explored in relational-cultural theory, emphasizing how empathy grows through engaging exchanges, starting in infancy (Jordan, 2010; Jordan et al., 1991).

• Infants and children feel pleasure when accurately seen and heard by caregivers, which reinforces their ability to empathize.

• Empathic behaviors are practiced through feedback from caregivers, who also show pleasure when the child engages in caretaking behaviors.

• Learning empathy occurs through the experience of being empathized with, as children internalize and refine their skills in observing and feeling with others.

• Accuracy in empathy is fine-tuned over time through ongoing exchanges of being seen and heard accurately.

6 Kinds of Empathic Failures

1. Boilerplate empathy - “I feel your pain” (overused empathic statements)​

2. Piling it on - “I feel so bad for you” ​

3. Getting the facts wrong – “Today is your son’s birthday”​

4. Trivializing via excessive universalizing – “Lots of people feel that way” ​

5. Mistaking personal sharing for empathy - “I have been there myself”​

6. No clinician response​

Empathic failures

• Reflects the wrong content, feeling, or meaning ​

• Misses' important themes ​

• Piles on too much sympathy ​

• Confuses one client’s story with another ​

• Clinician seems disingenuous ​

Relational Awareness

• Relational awareness is the developmental process of understanding what a relationship provides and requires (Judith Jordan, 2004b).

• Experience with others is essential for understanding the range of human reactions to different situations.

• Learning about human diversity comes from direct experiences with people who are different from oneself, not just through reading or classroom discussions.

• True relational awareness is gained by forming real connections with people from different cultures and socioeconomic classes, such as being neighbors, workmates, or friends.

Mindfulness and Meditation

• Mindfulness and meditation can enhance empathy by helping individuals focus and develop a non-judgmental stance towards their own and others' thoughts and feelings.

• Buddhist meditation specifically encourages cultivating compassion towards others, which can improve empathic behaviors.

• compassionate meditation increases brain activity in areas linked with empathy, and improves the ability to read facial expressions of others.

• Time spent alone through mindfulness practices can, paradoxically, help enhance empathic abilities.

Learning to Read Facial Expressions

• Accurately reading facial expressions is a crucial skill for developing empathy and can be learned through practice.

• Tests like the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) and the Ekman Facial Decoding Test help individuals practice identifying emotions by reading facial expressions, particularly the eyes.

• teaching physicians to decode facial expressions and educating them about the neurobiology of empathy led to increased empathy as reported by patients.

Role Playing

The psychodramatic technique of getting into role is a valuable tool for establishing empathy. This process involves:

• Adopting the physical and psychological characteristics of another person, including their posture, tone, and mannerisms.

• Embodying the person’s intentions, personal history, family dynamics, and cultural experiences.

• Role-playing enables the clinician to deeply understand the client’s perspective by fully immersing themselves in the other’s experiences and emotions, facilitating stronger empathy and connection.

Key points about empathy in relation to information gathering and silence:

1. Basic Background Information

2. Using Empathy with Silence

3. Empathy in Action

To be truly empathic with clients whose experiences are far removed from our own, broadening our understanding of human experiences and opening our hearts are essential. Here’s how clinicians can strengthen their empathy and expand their capacity to understand and support clients from diverse backgrounds:

• Broaden Your Knowledge

• Connect with People with Different Backgrounds

• Utilize Media and Arts

• Reflect and Practice Empathy with Diverse People

• Commit to Social Change

Common Reasons for Empathic Failures

• Cross-cultural communication: ​

  Language and meaning (Owl)​

• Countertransference: A term from psychodynamic theory to describe an unconscious process in which the clinician views the client as representative of an important figure from the clinician’s past and then behaves toward the client as though he or she were that person. ​

• Projection: A psychodynamic term to describe the clinical process in which clinicians disavow and repress their own unpleasant or taboo feelings, then attribute these feelings to clients or others (“I’m not angry, she is!”). ​

• Overidentification: A psychological process in which clinicians emphasize the similarities between themselves and their clients while minimizing or denying things that would reveal differences between them. ​

• Antipathy: If the social worker feels negatively about a client (dislike of a client) ​

Ways to Avoid Empathic Failures​

• Detailed process recordings

• Video and audio recordings

• Individual and group supervision

• Role-plays

• Personal therapy

Here are a few methods and strategies to enhance empathy through practice and reflection:

• RE-VIEW Practice Method

• Learning from experienced clinicians

• Continual practice and reflection

• Intentional practice and feedback

RE-VIEW Practice Method

• Practice in front of others: Role-playing or practicing clinical techniques in front of peers or supervisors.

• Receive feedback: Get constructive feedback to identify areas for improvement in expressing empathy and understanding client emotions.

Clinical empathy involves moving from feeling empathic to actively being empathic by:

• Converting perceptions, feelings, and intuitions into actions (e.g., postures, gestures, sounds, words, and behaviors).

• Effectively communicating these expressions to the client.

Basic methods to communicate support and empathy:

• Supportive sounds: Use of sounds or verbal expressions (e.g., "uh-huh," "I see") to show attentiveness and understanding.

• Mirroring: Mimicking the client's body language or tone to show empathy and connection.

• Empathic echo: Reflecting back the client’s content, feelings, themes, and patterns to demonstrate understanding from their perspective.

Two important components in empathy communication:

• The caring other: Clinician provides supportive responses as the client shares their story.

• The empathic other: Clinician reflects back the client's experience, emotions, and narrative in a way that aligns with the client's perspective.

Reflection of affect involves:

• Making statements about the emotions or feelings that surround or suffuse the client’s content.

• Direct statements of feeling: Clients may directly express their emotions, e.g., “I’m so proud,” or “I am scared.”

• Ambiguity of feeling: Clients may use vague terms like “upset,” which could encompass a range of emotions (e.g., sadness, worry, anger, etc.).

Challenges of reflecting affect:

• Clinicians may need to guess the client's feelings, using prior knowledge and contextual clues (tone, body language, facial expressions).

• Clinicians must develop the ability to discern different emotional states and recognize when feelings arise.

Using Empathy in the Relationship

• Empathy demonstrates support and caring

• Empathy encourages client self-disclosure

• Empathy builds the working alliance

• Empathy serves as the basis for clinical hunches

• Advanced empathy helps the client gain new perspective

In advanced empathy, the clinician reflects

the meaning beneath the surface of the client’s awareness

Empathic Failures

• Empathic failures occur when clinicians:

  • Miss the correct content, feeling, or meaning during a client’s narrative.

  • Drift from the moment and miss important themes or feelings.

  • Confuse one client’s story with another’s, which can hurt the client's feelings (e.g., thinking they are indistinguishable from others).

Common forms of empathic failures

• Boilerplate empathy: Using generic, overused empathic statements that sound insincere, like “I feel your pain” or “I see what you’re saying.”

• Piling it on: Overusing empathic responses, making them exaggerated, too numerous, or childish, such as “Wow” or “Awful.”

• Getting the facts wrong: Incorrectly recalling details, such as misremembering the anniversary of an event, e.g., “This is the anniversary of your brother’s suicide.”

• Trivializing via excessive universalizing: Making the client’s unique pain feel less significant by saying things like “Lots of people feel that way” or “You’re not alone.”

• Mistaking personal sharing for empathy: The clinician shares their own experience to relate but diverts attention away from the client’s story, e.g., “I’ve been there myself.”

• No clinician response: Failing to respond at crucial moments, leaving clients feeling ignored or disinterested, e.g., only saying “Hmmm” or remaining silent.

Common Reasons for Empathic Failures

• Increased likelihood of empathic misses in cross-cultural communication

• Challenges with empathizing when personal issues are triggered

Countertransference

Clinicians may unconsciously see the client as representing an important figure from their past, which distorts their ability to empathize. This makes it harder to accurately perceive and join with the client’s perspective.

Self-awareness challenges

• Clinicians must maintain self-awareness and centeredness while empathizing to avoid confusing their own feelings with the client's.

• Projection: Attributing unpleasant personal feelings to the client (e.g., “I’m not angry—she is”).

• Overidentification: Minimizing differences and focusing too much on similarities, leading to less accurate empathy.

Solutions for improving empathy

• Use process recordings, video/audio recordings, supervision, and role-play to understand and address personal feelings that interfere with empathy.

• Group supervision helps in sharing and identifying behaviors that negatively impact empathy (e.g., overidentification, scapegoating).

• Personal therapy is recommended if empathy difficulties persist.

• Clinicians struggling with empathy may need to reconsider if clinical work is suitable for them.

Empathic failures may occur:

• When clients are difficult, demean the clinician, or sabotage the relationship.

• Antipathy toward the client can increase empathic misses.

Learning from Empathic Failures

• Attending to errors in reflection

• Building mutuality

• Client involvement

• Two-way feedback