Fall 2026 SOWK 486w Week 12 - Additive Empathetic Responding

Slide 1
A title slide with the heading 'Additive Empathetic Responding' in bold black text on a large yellow-orange rounded bar that bleeds off the left edge, against a plain white background. Below it, smaller text reads 'Jacob Campbell, Ph.D. LICSW at Heritage University' and 'Fall 2026 Week 12 SOWK 486w.'

Fall 2026 SOWK 486w Week 12 - Additive Empathetic Responding

Week twelve we look to develop strategies for how to impact change with our clients. It is an asynchronous week, with no in-person class because of Veterans Day. Students will read Chapters 17 and 18 from Hepworth et al. (2023) to explore key strategies for helping clients change, including additive empathy, interpretation, and confrontation, along with the barriers that make change hard for clients and how we might limit those barriers in our practice. In the forums, students will discuss the chapters, practice surface and additive empathetic responses, try a four-part model for assertive confrontation, reflect on their own experiences of making change, and consider what facilitates recovery. Students will also submit their Interviewing Skills Role-Play, due on Monday morning. There is also a lecture video that discusses additive empathetic responding. The agenda for that is as follows:

  • Week 12 expectations
  • Additive empathy and interpretation
  • Reactance theory

Learning Objectives for the Week

  • Define and differentiate surface empathy, additive empathy, and interpretation in the context of direct social work practice.
  • Identify and apply the components of additive empathy and interpretive responses in client interactions.
  • Practice assertive confrontation using a structured four-part model.
  • Identify and analyze common barriers that interfere with the client change process.
  • Reflect on personal experiences of making change to build insight into client challenges.
  • Analyze the principles of the SAMHSA Recovery Model.
Slide 2
A white presentation slide with black sans-serif text presents the week's plan. The left column lists an Agenda with three bullets: 'Week 12 expectations,' 'Additive empathy and interpretation,' and 'Reactance theory.' Below it, under 'Learning Objectives,' one bullet reads 'Identify and apply the components of additive empathy and interpretive responses in client interactions.' A large bold title, 'Plan for Week 12,' sits in the lower right corner.

Plan for Week 12

Agenda

  • Week 12 expectations
  • Additive empathy and interpretation
  • Reactance theory

Learning Objective

Identify and apply the components of additive empathy and interpretive responses in client interactions.

Slide 3
A slide titled 'Week 12 Activities: What You Should Be Doing This Week' lays out two columns on a white background. The left column reads 'Read and do a quiz for chapter 17 and 18' and 'Submit A-04a: Interviewing Skills Video Role-Play by Monday, 11/16 at 8 am.' The right column, headed 'Three Replies Across Any of the Forums,' lists five forum topics as bullets.

Week 12 Activities

What You Should Be Doing This Week

  • Read Hepworth et al. (2023) Chapters 17 Additive Empathy, Interpretation, and Confrontation and 18 Managing Barriers to Change
  • W-12 A-01: Class Engagement and Participation
    • Chapters 17 and 18 Discussion
    • Using Reddit to Practice Surface and Additive Empathetic Responses
    • Practice Effective Assertive Confrontation
    • Personal Examples of Challenges Making Change
    • SAMHSA’s Working Definition of Recovery
  • A-02: Reading Quiz
  • A-04a: Interviewing Skills Video Role-Play
Slide 4
A presentation slide titled 'Types of Empathy: Fundamental Expressions' has two rows, each with a yellow-orange label box on the left and a text description on the right. The top box, 'Emotional Empathy,' is paired with 'expressed feeling and an understanding that infers or reflects clients' emotions.' The bottom box, 'Cognitive Empathy,' is paired with 'is the translation of such feelings into words.' The citation '(Hepworth et al., 2023)' sits in the lower-right corner against a plain white background.

Types of Empathy

We can think about both cognitive and emotional empathy.

“Empathy has been defined as perceiving, understanding, experiencing, and responding to the emotional state of another person (Barker, 2003, p. 141).” (Hepworth, 2023, p. 513). Decety and Jackson (2004) describe two basic types of empathy.

Emotional empathy, specifically at the cognitive level, includes expressed feeling and an understanding that infers or reflects clients’ emotions. In addition, your cognitive empathy translates those feelings into words that ultimately help clients take problem-solving action.

  • Emotional Empathy - as the ability to be affected by a client’s emotions
  • Cognitive Empathy - is the translation of such feelings into words
Slide 5
A slide titled 'Components of Empathy: Three Parts of Empathetic Responding' shows a pink 'Empathy' box in the center with three black speech-bubble callouts pointing to it: 'Self-Awareness' (top), 'Affective Sharing' (left), and 'Mental Flexibility' (right). Each has a definition beside it: 'We recognize ourselves as different and similar to the client,' 'Person sharing something to respond to,' and 'Skills in both turning on receptivity and turning it off.' Citation at bottom right: (Hepworth et al., 2017).

Components of Empathy

There are three basic components of empathy laid out by the Hepworth text.

  • Affective Sharing: Person sharing something to respond to
  • Self-Awareness: so that the social worker recognizes himself or herself as different from the person with whom he or she has empathy
  • Mental Flexibility: requiring skills in both turning on receptivity and turning it off. Such skills are essential for regulating compassion fatigue by enabling the social worker to distance themselves from the client’s experience (Adams, Boscarinao, & Figley, 2006; Harr & Moore, 2011).

(Hepworth, et al. 2017)

Slide 6
A black-silhouette figure on a left platform reaches an arc toward a second figure on a right platform, with a red arc overshooting past it to a 'Too Far' label. Five black rounded tiles sit between them, labeled 'Simple Reflection' and 'What the client knows about themselves.' The right platform reads 'Additive Empathic Responses & Interpretation.' Top right: 'Going Beyond What the Client Has Expressed,' with the note 'Interpretation is intended to help clients view their problems from a different perspective...' Citation: (Hepworth et al., 2023).

Additive Empathic Responses & Interpretation

“Additive empathic responses go somewhat beyond what clients have expressed and, therefore, require some degree of inference by social workers. Thus, these responses are moderately interpretive— that is, they interpret forces operating to produce feelings, cognitions, reactions, and behavioral patterns” (Hepworth, p. 513). Cormier, Nurius, and Osborn (2009) describe that

Interpretation is intended to help clients view their problems from a different perspective, thereby creating new possibilities for remedial courses of action

  • Lead to Interpretation: Such additive empathic responses lead us to interpretation
  • The identification of patterns, goals, and wishes that clients imply but do not directly state. Insight through interpretation is the foremost therapeutic principle basic to psychoanalysis and closely related therapies.

(Hepworth, et al. 2023)

Slide 7
A presentation slide titled 'Pitfalls of Additive Empathy' (Hepworth et al., 2023), subtitled 'Moderate Interpretations vs. Deep Interpretations,' lists two columns of white bullets: 'Working relationship has evolved,' 'Engaged and ready for self-exploration,' 'Pitch these responses to the edge of clients' self-awareness,' 'Avoid making several additive empathic responses in succession,' 'Phrase interpretive responses in tentative terms,' 'Note clients' reactions after offering the interpretation,' 'Acknowledge your probable error & respond empathically,' and 'Culturally differences.' The dark green background ends in a pixel-art jungle scene from a retro video game, with trees, a pit, and a pond.

Pitfalls of Additive Empathy

If you never played Pitfall on the Atari (or have no idea what that is, there might be a problem… )

“moderate interpretations (those that reflect feelings that lie at the margin of the client’s experiences) facilitate self-exploration and self-awareness, whereas deep interpretations engender opposition” (Hepworth, p. 514)

We need to remember that we want to make interpretive statements that are closer to the clients own understanding a self image.

  • Use additive empathy sparingly until a sound working relationship has evolved
  • Employ these responses only when clients are engaged in self-exploration or have shown that they are ready to do so
  • Pitch these responses to the edge of clients’ self-awareness and avoid attempting to foster awareness that is remote from clients’ current awareness or experiences
  • Avoid making several additive empathic responses in succession
  • Phrase interpretive responses in tentative terms
  • To determine the accuracy of an interpretive response, carefully note clients’ reactions after offering the interpretation
  • If the client responds negatively to an interpretative response, acknowledge your probable error, respond empathically to the client’s reaction, and continue your discussion of the topic under consideration
  • When providing an interpretation to a client who is culturally different from the social worker, recognize that the client may not readily understand the message the way it was intended

(Hepworth, et al. 2023)

Slide 8
A pink rounded box on a white slide, beside the bullet 'Deeper feelings,' lists uses of additive empathy: 'Identify feelings implied or hinted at in clients' verbal messages,' 'To identify feelings that underlie surface emotions,' 'To clarify the nature of feelings clients express only vaguely,' 'To identify feelings manifested only nonverbally,' and 'Challenging beliefs stated as facts.' The slide title reads 'Ways of Using Additive Empathy / What Context Do we Use it,' with the citation '(Hepworth et al., 2023)' in the lower right.

Ways of Using Additive Empathy (1 of 2)

The following are some ways that we should consider using additive empathy.

  • Deeper feelings
    • To identify feelings that are only implied or hinted at in clients’ verbal messages
    • To identify feelings that underlie surface emotions
  • To clarify the nature of feelings clients express only vaguely
  • To identify feelings manifested only nonverbally
  • Challenging beliefs stated as facts

Previous textbook * To add intensity to feelings clients have minimized

Slide 9
A white presentation slide with the bold black title 'Ways of Using Additive Empathy' and subtitle 'What Context Do we Use it.' Six bullets list: 'Deeper feelings,' 'Underlying meanings of feelings, thoughts, and behavior,' 'Wants and goals,' 'Hidden purposes of behavior,' 'Challenge beliefs stated as facts,' and 'Unrealized strengths and potentialities.' A small gray citation, '(Hepworth et al., 2023),' sits in the bottom-right corner.

Ways of Using Additive Empathy (2 of 2)

  • Underlying meanings of feelings, thoughts, and behavior (all behavior is communication)
  • Wants and goals (helping develop and understand)
  • Hidden purposes of behavior (often self-protective)
  • Challenge beliefs stated as facts
  • Unrealized strengths and potentialities

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Slide 10
Object: a flow diagram titled 'Reactance Theory,' with the subtitle 'The Larger the Loss, the Larger the Reaction.' Two blue inputs, 'Importance of freedom' and 'Magnitude of threat to freedom,' feed a red 'Reactance' box via an orange arrow, which outputs to green boxes 'Mental Effects: Perceptual or judgmental changes' and 'Behavioral Effects: Opposition, aggression, etc.' Citation: (Brehm, 1972), on a white slide.

Reactance Theory

Brehm (1972) talked about Reactance (well and had been writing about it since the sixties).

  • Importance of the freedom
  • Magnitude of threat to freedom

Creates Reactance

  • Mental Effects: Perceptual or judgmental changes
  • Behavioral Effects: Opposition, aggression, etc.

Share story about client and being “a F… Hawaiian.”