Skills for Promoting Understanding and Insight

You and your client have successfully negotiated the initial phase of therapy and have begun to build a solid working relationship or therapeutic alliance. So, what comes next? As you explore the client's presenting issues more closely, you start evaluating your client's presenting problems, strengths, and support systems. Thus far, you have focused on active listening skills as part of the initial phase of therapy. This week, you add to your developing skills ways to further explore client issues as you begin to help the client "peel back the layers of the onion" to better understand her or his problems.

How would you confront a client who comes to your office and refuses to say a word? Many psychologists-in-training are uncomfortable during moments of silence and may feel the need to speak. It takes practice to sit with a client in silence and to determine whether a client is silent because she or he needs to process information, feels overwhelmed, or is at a loss for words. In psychotherapy, sometimes you, as the therapist, will use silence strategically as a way to help the client reflect on something that was just said or a feeling that was just experienced.

Another technique that is often uncomfortable for psychologists-in-training is confrontation. Confrontation can be quite subtle but still used with intention and purpose. It can be used as a way to "check in" with clients and have them consider another viewpoint. You may even confront a client in a therapeutic way about perceived contradictions. You might provide tentative interpretations for clients to consider, or other times you may provide clients with information. There are many skills you can use to help clients develop insight, and you should have all of these in your "tool kit" from which you may draw as needed. As with all aspects of the therapeutic process, diversity considerations always must be taken into account. You should consider how your client's socioeconomic level, physical ability, religion, region of upbringing, race, and/or sexual orientation affect presenting problems and presentation in therapy.

Describe the following skills:disputing beliefs, interpretation, providing information and reflection of meaning.
Then, provide an example of how you might use each skill with the client in the scenario. Include a sample statement for each skill that demonstrates what you might say to the client in the scenario. Support your Discussion assignment with specific resources used in its preparation. You are asked to provide a reference for all resources, including those in the Learning Resources for this course.