The Role and Significance of Empathy in Patient Counseling - Essay Example

Name Course Institution Lecturer Date Importance of Listening and Empathy in Counselling Introduction Counselling in the current world may be hardly pictured without various psychological and communicative techniques which make communication between the counsellor and the client more successful and less formal. Current communication in the counselling field may be quite challenging without being attentive and actively listening to the client. Active listening and empathy form two of the main skills that a therapist or counsellor should apply during a face-to-face counselling session. The ability to communicate efficiently is a significant requirement, in all kinds of remedial counselling job. Comprehending the significance of the two skills as well as having the capability to put them into practice accordingly, is considered a precious asset for the counselling profession (Heslop, p.10). This essay will discuss about the importance of listening and empathy in counselling. Listening in counselling According to Swanson and Parcover (p.116), in order to assist clients to enhance their lives’ quality, by solving their issues and problems and making constructive transformations, a counsellor ought to show concern for the life of the client in relation to wellbeing, difficulties and problems. A counsellor is charged with the responsibility of giving the client undivided attention from the start to the end of a face-to-face counselling session. Active listening along with its effectiveness in the work of a counsellor is very important. Different counselling areas believe that, a client should explain the problem or the situation that needs assistance to work out. By listening to a client attentively, a counsellor makes him or her have a feeling that, he or she is an important person to the counsellor. In this manner, the counsellor shows special interest, to the client’s situation and ascertains the importance of problem. In other words, listening to a person as he or she explains something makes the individual who is speaking feel worthy, respected and appreciated. When a speaker gets all the attention that he or she needs, he or she responds confidently by interacting at a deeper extent, perhaps by revealing personal information or even by being more relaxed. Similarly, when a counsellor gives special attention to the client’s utterances, they are to a very big extent, persuading their client to keep on talking. In addition, it is a way of ensuring that communication stays positive and open. If a client sees a counsellor as an interested listener, they would provide more detailed information regarding the problem at hand, and also feels free to tell the counsellor, the most sensitive things which highly help the counsellor in their work (Bonsmann, p.32). Bonsmann further asserts that, in order for a counsellor to give the most effective advice to a client, the client must disclose to the counsellor all the relevant information. This helps the counsellor to ascertain the root cause of the problem that the client is currently facing. In the counselling field, the kind of remedy that a counsellor provides to the client will depend on the cause of the situation. For instance, if a client is having infidelity issues in his marriage, the counsellor may be interested in knowing more about his relations with his wife as well as the kind of friends that he has. In most cases, infidelity is caused by poor relationship between a husband and a wife and bad company. However, whether a client is ready to disclose all the details that may help determine the cause of the problem, will depend on the attention of counsellor to what the client is saying. Moreover, in counselling ethics, confidentiality is one of the core principles that counsellors are expected to implement in their practice. For a client to trust a counsellor with sensitive information the counsellor must show signs of being trustworthy and one of such signs is the level of attentiveness when listening to the client (Bonsmann, p.32). Tylee (p. 1643) maintains that, disclosure of detailed information by the client during a face-to-face counselling session can never be achieved, if the client gets the slightest hint of the fact that, the counsellor is not paying attention to what he or she is saying. Posing questions to a client would be meaningless, if in getting a reply from the client, the counsellor shows no concern to the client’s response to the questions. Thus active listening requires specific training and is encouraged not only in counselling, but in other fields such as marketing, management, marketing and teaching as well. Active listening is not a skill that develops in a counsellor automatically but is acquired through training and experience. Continuing being attentive even when a client keeps quiet, time and again, the period of silence tells the counsellor more than the words that the client has said. This is because; the counsellor gets time to reflect on what the client has been saying, which in turn facilitate a better understanding of the client‘s situation. According to Goyal (p.267), active listening needs more than simply listening to the words of a client. It entails showing an interest in the client, ensuring they are at ease with revealing personal information as well as providing back up and understanding. Additionally, it requires the counsellor to takes into consideration the client’s body language which they display, the tone, pace and pitch of their voice. This shows the close link between listening and attending. By showing concern for the physical as well as psychological comfort of the client and interpreting their body language, a counsellor shows his expertise as an active listener, offering and encouraging specific environment which is required for client’s trust and openness. The topic of active listening is discussed by counselling professionals as well as trainers, who do research all over the world. They have described several principles which characterise an active listener and show the client the personal involvement and interest in the explained situation. One of the principles is facing the client during the counselling session. Moreover, sitting in a straight position or leaning forward is a way of showing attentiveness. Additionally, by the counsellor maintaining an eye contact with the client, shows the counsellor’s interest in the client as well as what they are saying. Responding correctly, by eyebrow raising and displaying other facial expressions also provokes the client to keep on talking. The last principle says that, the counsellor should ask questions only for clarification. The lesser the counsellor talks, the more the client should. There is a number of language strangeness in active speaking in the field of counselling with one of them being periphrasis. This demonstrates the understanding of the topic and the issue by the counsellor and makes the client know that, the main message is comprehended properly and that, the counsellor authenticates the information given by the client, recognizing what the client has said and encouraging further conversation (Goyal, p.268). Empathy in counselling According to Heslop (p.10), the relationship that grows between a counsellor and a client is the centre of counselling. Through such a relationship, the strong and individual experience of actual contact with a different human being, a client will have the ability to set their feelings free, reorganize attitudes and reassert his or her character. The skill and attitude of correct empathy strengthens the relationship between counsellor and the client. Empathy denotes the capability to accurately interpret the feelings of another person in order to show an understanding of what they are going through and communicating that understanding in a manner that matches the client’s present situation. It is an attitude as well as a skill rather than a feeling. It concerns being willing and able to understand another individual from their personal viewpoint exclusive of your personal feelings, thoughts, judgements and opinions interfering with the understanding. This may be hard for a person who has a strong reaction to the affected person, or if a person disapproves what the other is saying or if a person has had an identical experience and feels that they could provide some useful advice (Heslop, p.10). Redfern and Dancey (p.300) says that, as a counsellor discovers the unexplored parts of a client’s relationships and life, the counsellor’s empathy will overcome the isolation and alienation which may be experienced by the current. Proper conveyance of empathy, involves the shift to extents of feeling as well as experiences which are deeper than the client’s experiences, but those that client may use in understanding and accepting him or herself. In other words, the counsellor’s expression of empathy facilitates a better understanding of a situation by the concerned client. This is because; it gives the client an insight of how to go about handling his or her situation and to some extent, empathy provides support to the client. Empathy deals with the counsellor’s capacity to understand the client’s feelings and experience, evaluate the experience while holding back his or her personal judgements and bearing his or her personal anxiety. It is a counsellor’s conduct and not his theory or technique, which accurately communicates empathy to the client and boosts the growth of the relationship between the two. The way an individual looks at himself, including unaccepted views is a main determining factor of individual experience, psychological health and behaviour. Similarly, the way in which the view is changed or reorganized is crucial. Agreeing to the reality-as-perceived of the client as a foundation for authentic understanding, the counsellor takes on active listening which is attempts to make logical what the client says and expresses including what is suspended in his awareness. When clients believe their counsellors to be deeply empathic, such a feeling helps them to survey their inner selves in a more profound manner and change especially in behaviour is likely to take place. Moreover, such feelings make alienated clients feel more attached and less secluded from other members of the society (Brunero and Coates, p.65). For instance, when a client is talking about her struggle with naughty kids, the counsellor may show empathy by informing the client that, she is also a mother and her kids where once naughty but they have reformed. According to Mearns and Thorne (p.17), person-centred philosophy has an affirmative view of human beings and their ability to turn out to be fully functioning, provided that the ideal conditions prevail. The intrinsic force towards actualization is considered as the central motivating drive within a client. The counsellor believes in and facilitates this innate growth process by respecting the individual autonomy and self-directedness of the client. For the counsellor to release the growth force, certain setting or a relationship-oriented setting should exist. This is attained by the counsellor’s subscription to the core conditions for therapeutic character change which includes congruence, empathy and unconditional positive regard. On the contrary, regardless of his skill, the counsellor’s success in expressing empathy will highly depend on the readiness, participation, stage of change and motivation. Drawing from McLeod ( p.143), the main objective of empathy is to liberate and promote the self-actualisation process in a client. Although necessary in a counselling relationship, the objective is not always achieved in every person or situation. Often empathy is not adequate to result in the type of behavioural transformations that are desired by a person, their family, friends, organization or society in which he or she lives in. Though the effectiveness of empathy can definitely lead to major behavioural transformations over a broad array of client problems and conditions, such transformations are often transient, gradual and partial. Conclusion Active listening and empathy are some of the main skills that a counsellor or a therapist is expected to posses and apply. Listening is considered important in assisting a client during a counselling session, to solve his or her problems and making positive behavioural transformations. It helps the client to feel worthy, respected and appreciated. Through active listening of a counsellor, a client feels free and end up disclosing more detailed information. It also helps the counsellor to identify the cause of the client’s problem. Empathy is important in counselling because, it helps strengthen the relationship between a counsellor and clients. It also facilitates overcoming isolation which may be experienced by the client. Empathy aims at freeing and promoting self-actualisation in a client. Work Cited Bonsmann, Christine. "What do clients have to say about therapy?" Counselling Psychology Review 25.4 (2010): 31-45. Brunero, Scott and Melissa Coates. "A review of empathy education in nursing." Nursing Inquiry 17.1 (2010): 64-73. Goyal. Hospital Administration And Human Resource Management. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd, 2005. Heslop, A. "Qualities of the effective counsellor." The Child Care Worker 10.6 (2002): 10-11. McLeod, John. Counselling skill. Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2005. Mearns, Dave and Brian Thorne. Person-centred counselling in action. London : SAGE, 2007. Redfern, Sheila and Christine P. Dancey. "Empathy: Its effect on how counsellors are perceived." British Journal of Guidance & Counselling 21.3 (2003): 300. Swanson, J.L and J.A Parcover. "Practice and research in career counseling and development." The Career Development Quarterly 47.2 (2008): 56-61. Tylee, Andre. "Counselling in primary care." Lancet 350. 9092 (2001): 1643. Veach, Patricia McCarthy, Bonnie S. LeRoy and Dianne M. Bartels. Facilitating the Genetic Counseling Process. New York: Springer, 2003. Read More