PLAGIARISM FREE IN 15 HOURS or LESS TECHNIQUES SUMMARY

Chapter 5 Reasons for Reflecting

In general, reflecting entails repeating back to the client his or her own thoughts and feelings and implied meanings in a condensed way, using different words and in a manner that communicates nonevaluative, nonjudgmental understanding.

Four functions are served by reflecting skills in helping:

Reflecting is a verbal way of communicating empathy: In Chapter 2, we discussed the concept of empathy, or trying to “feel oneself into” another’s experience. Reflecting shows the client that the helper understands what the client is going through.

Reflecting is a form of feedback or a mirror that enables the client to confirm or correct the impression they are giving: Frequently, the client does not agree with the helper’s reflections, but a reflecting statement, even if it is inaccurate, can give the client an opportunity to clarify the experience to others and to oneself (Hill, 2020). In other words, beginning helpers should try to reflect without being concerned that every reflection is perfect or that the client endorses it. If the helper does not hit the bull’s-eye, in many cases the client will expand on the situation and explain it more clearly.

Reflecting stimulates further exploration of what the client is experiencing: Accurate reflection has an “opening effect,” bringing out more facts and deeper feelings. Reflecting can be compared to the soliloquy in a Shakespearean play where the main character turns to the audience and expresses what is going on inside in the character’s thoughts. Because clients do not always express or even recognize these deeper thoughts and feelings, the helper primes the pump with reflections.

Reflecting captures important aspects of the client’s message that otherwise might remain camouflaged: Many people have difficulty admitting to negative feelings such as fear and anger or ungenerous thoughts about others. When the helper reflects these in a nonjudgmental way, the client may suddenly recognize that the helper is correct. The helper’s words resonate with the client’s unspoken and perhaps unrecognized experience."