Types of Empathy Used in Counseling - Essay Example

Advanced Empathy Advanced empathy is one of the skills in counseling which helps the client to challenge his limiting awareness about his/her true feelings (Egan, 1984, p.142). Advanced empathy is a form of empathy used by the helper to make the client aware of the deeper feelings which are hidden below the surface of the shallow feelings and thoughts that client entertains (Sommers-Flanagan, J & Sommers-Flanagan, R., 2003, p.73). According to Egan (1986), there is a difference between the basic empathy and the advanced empathy practiced by the helpers (Sommers-Flanagan, J & Sommers-Flanagan, R., 2003, p.73). The difference is in the purpose of both types of empathies used in counseling. Application of advanced empathy Egan states that the basic empathy allows the helper to understand the feelings of the client which are obvious and of which the client is aware (Sommers-Flanagan, J & Sommers-Flanagan, R., 2003, p.73). Basic empathy helps to provide a reflection on the feelings of the client which are relevant to the events and situations the client experiences (Sommers-Flanagan, J & Sommers-Flanagan, R., 2003, p.73). However, it is the a skill of advanced empathy which empowers the helper to use his own ‘hunches’ based on the observation of client’s behavior, language, emotions and expressions, in interpreting the client’s unconscious feelings (Egan, 1984, p.142). With the help of the ‘hunches’, the helper reflects on the client’s emotions and provides his interpretations of client’s emotions (Egan, 1984, p.142). Hence, the helper not only empathizes with the client but goes one more step ahead of it and makes the client aware of those feelings which are hidden under the surface (Egan, 1984, p.142). This helps the client to realize that there are some other emotions inside him which are affecting his interpretations of the daily events (Egan, 1984, p.142). Advanced empathy is applied in helping the client becoming aware of the different emotions that work from inside and helps them see the ‘bigger picture’ of the problem (Egan, 1984, p.142). Egan’s ‘advanced empathy’ assumes that people are not able to solve their emotional problems because they are unaware of the unconscious emotions that cause those problems (Sommers-Flanagan, J & Sommers-Flanagan, R., 2003, p.74). The interpretive feeling reflection technique aims at brining the unconscious emotions that are ‘buried’ or ‘hidden’ from the client (Sommers-Flanagan, J & Sommers-Flanagan, R., 2003, p.74). This not only helps the client in getting to the roots of the problem but also makes him capable of solving his future problems with the help of advanced empathy techniques like ‘hunches’ and ‘looking at the bigger picture’ (Egan, 1984, p.142). Advanced empathy is a very useful skill as, in Egan’s words, “basic empathy [nondirective reflections of feeling] gets at relevant surface (not confused with superficial) feelings and meanings, while advanced accurate empathy [interpretive reflection of feeling] gets at feelings and meanings that are buried, hidden, or beyond the immediate reach of the client (Sommers-Flanagan, J & Sommers-Flanagan, R., 2003, p.73). Immediacy Immediacy is the challenging skill which is utilized by the helper to make the client understand the pattern of his relationships (outside the counseling relationship) with the help of interpreting, reflecting and analyzing the ‘current’ relationship between them (the helper and the client) (Egan, 1984, p.142). Immediacy is the skill which aims at bringing the client’s attention and awareness to the ‘present moment’ or ‘here and now’ (Culley & Bond, 2004, p.129). The helper utilizes the ‘present’ conversation, i.e. the conversation going on between the client and the helper, as a device to bring the client to the present moment awareness by making him to express his thoughts, opinions and feelings about the conversation taking place in the counseling room (Culley & Bond, 2004, p.129). Application of immediacy. It has been observed that most of the times, the clients talk about their past lives and the future goals while in the counseling session (Culley & Bond, 2004, p.129). This takes away their attention from the ‘present’ (Culley & Bond, 2004, p.129). When people talk of their past or their future, what they do is that they utilize their ‘thinking’ power (Culley & Bond, 2004, p.129). People cannot ‘feel’ the past or the future. ‘Feelings’ and ‘emotions’ are always in the present moment. This makes them miss the opportunity of dealing with the different aspects of relationship immediately. Hence, immediacy can be applied in making people aware of their ‘feelings’ by bringing their attention towards how they are feeling ‘right now’ and what is going on in their mind about the conversation they are having with the helper (Culley & Bond, 2004, p.129). By asking the client to express his opinions and feelings about the conversation between the helper and the client, the helper helps the client to look at the deeper aspects of the emotions which are related to the relationship (Egan, 1984, p.143). People suffering from mental disorders do not communicate openly with other people (Egan, 1984, p.143). Their expressions and spontaneity is blocked by different sorts of negative emotions like fear of intimacy, anger, doubt etc. (Egan, 1984, p.143). The same emotional fears and problems that the client experiences in relationships outside the counseling relationship, are felt by him in the counseling relationship (Egan, 1984, p.143). By applying the skill of immediacy, the helper brings out the hidden and suppressed unconscious emotional aspects of the client regarding different relationships in his life (Egan, 1984, p.143). This helps the client to understand the roots of his relationship problems and paves a way to remove those fears and enjoy open and honest relationships in life. Immediacy helps the clients to develop a totally new perspective towards their interpersonal relationships (Egan, 1984, p.143). SELF-DISCLOSURE Self-disclosure is a counseling skill which is used to help clients develop a comfortable and open attitude towards the helper (Rungapadiachy, 1999, p.233). Self disclosure is a practice in which the helper chooses to disclose the aspects of his personal life to develop a feeling of personhood between the helper and the client (Rungapadiachy, 1999, p.233). However, the helper has to take care that self disclosure takes place at appropriate time and is relevant to the problem the client is experiencing (Egan, 1984, p.143). Moreover, self disclosure should not make the client feel that the helper is trying to over shadow the client’s problem and is focusing on himself rather than on the client (Egan, 1984, p.143). Hence, self-disclosure is a tool which needs to be handled very skillfully. Application of self disclosure The skill of self disclosure helps the client to get the clarity and depth of his own problem by listening to how the helper faced the similar sort of problem and what he did to come out of it (Egan, 1984, p.143). When self disclosure is used without taking away the focus on the client’s problem and is used only to such an extent that it helps the client feel that he is not the only one who is experiencing the same problem, then self-disclosure enhances mutuality and helps the client to develop clarity and optimism towards the solution of the problem (Egan, 1984, p.143). References: Culley, S. & Bond, T. (2004). Integrative Counselling Skills in Action. London: Sage Publication. Egan, g. (1984). Skilled Helping: A Problem-Management Framework for Helping and Helper Training. In D.Larson (Ed.). Teaching Psychology Skills: Models for giving Psychology away. CA: Wadsworth, Inc. Rungapadiachy, M. (1999). Interpersonal Communication and Psychology for Health Care Professionals: Theory and Practice. UK: Butterworth-Heinemann. Sommers-Flanagan, J & Sommers-Flanagan, R. (2003). Clinical Interviewing. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Read More