Creative and Novel Approaches to Empathy: A Neo-Rogerian Perspective

This article describes the historical antecedents of empathy, elaborates on the Rogerian definition of basic and advanced empathy, and relates how some authors have expanded on those definitions. It then describes six creative and novel empathic responses that fit the original Rogers definition of empathy: reflecting deeper feelings, pointing out discrepancies, and the use of visual imagery, analogies, metaphors, and targeted self-disclosure. The benefits and limits of how empathy is taught in counselor training programs are discussed and ways seasoned counselors can improve their skill in making complex empathic responses are suggested.