There's empathy as an intuitive ability and as a practiced ability. It's like having a good musical ear vs being skilled at playing the piano.

Take for example, understanding people with depression. Most people tell them "it's all in your head", "Just get out of the house and you'll feel better"... Because of that, various articles have been published to actually tell people how to behave towards people with depression - telling someone with depression how much you love them, being there for them, listening, supporting them... But someone with a decent amount of empathy won't require much guidelines regarding this