The main function of an advisory contact. Consultative contact and: orientation of the consultant. General characteristics of consultative contact from the standpoint of a psychologist-consultant in the psychoanalytic and Adlerian direction

One of the most important conditions for the effective work of a psychologist is contact with a client (See Aleshina Yu. E. Individual and family psychological counseling. - M: Independent firm "Klass", 1999).

A guarantee of such contact is professional knowledge of not only verbal technical means, but also such important non-verbal parameters as tone, eye contact, pauses, etc.

1. Consultative contact is a unique dynamic process during which one person helps another to use their inner resources for development in a positive direction and actualize the potential of a meaningful life (R. Kochunas. Fundamentals of psychological counseling / Translated from Lithuanian. M .: Academic project. -1999 .-- 240 s).

2. Consultative contact is the feelings and attitudes that the participants in the counseling experience one in relation to the other, and the way of expressing them (Aleshina Yu. There is Individual and family psychological counseling. 2nd edition. M .: Independent firm "Class" 1999 .-- 208 s).

As you can see from the above definitions, it follows that the consultative contact is the essence of the consultation process. Especially noted are sincerity, warmth, empathy, respect, support from the consultant and the "transfer" of attitudes to clients. The client transfers the skills learned during the consultative contact to other relationships.

Almost all definitions of domestic and foreign scientists point to several unique features of a consultative contact:

o emotionality (consultative contact is more emotional than cognitive, it involves the study of the experiences of clients);

o Intensity (since contact represents attitude and mutual exchange of experiences, it cannot but be intense);

o dynamism (when changing a client, the specifics of the contact also changes);

o confidentiality (the obligation of the consultant not to disseminate information about the client contributes to confidentiality);

o provision of support (constant support of the consultant provides stability of contact, allowing the client to take risks and try to behave in a new way);

o honesty.

To establish mutual trust, a consultant especially needs such qualities: sincerity, empathy and unconditional respect for people.

Sincerity of the advisory contact (congruence)

Sincerity is one of essential elements creating a psychological climate. Sincerity cannot be learned, but the consultant must be able to behave with clients in such a way that they perceive entering their inner world as support, and not as a threat.

So, a consultant's sincerity is his ability to be himself.

A sincere consultant does not hide behind a mask and does not try to fulfill the role. He is natural in contact, because he is sensitive to his reactions and feelings, conscientious and truthful in communicating them to clients. Sincerity presupposes the correspondence of statements to feelings and non-verbal behavior, spontaneity.

Congruent interaction allows the client not to hide behind a facade when communicating with a consultant. Open to his feelings, thoughts, attitudes and at the same time such that does not cause anxiety, the consultant contributes to a comfortable state of the client.

By contacting a consultant, the client reveals his uniqueness. The relationship between a consultant and a client is understood as a "person-to-person" contact, identical to a meeting of two equal people "here and now".

Despite the fact that the consultative contact seems to be formal and somewhat short-lived in comparison with the whole life of the client, and is closer, intense and deeper than any other interpersonal. In counseling, the client turns to a stranger and reveals to him the smallest details of his personal life, about which, perhaps, no one else knows. What the client says often does not represent him in the best light. Sometimes in the process of counseling, new aspects of the personality "emerge" that surprise, upset and even shock the client himself. All this makes the consultative contact an intimate affair of two people, moreover, it is specifically intimate, unlike the usual friendly or love relationship.

The uniqueness of the nature of psycho-counseling contact depends on the psychologist's ability to distinguish between intimate-personal and intimate-psychological relationships.

In the process of psycho-counseling contact, the psychologist solves the following tasks:

1. The psychologist can decide how much to open up and choose a way to react to the events presented by the client, or he can not react at all. Contact is also asymmetric because only a psychologist interprets the meaning of what was told and is able to assess the achievement of psychological goals.

2. As a result, psycho-counseling contact is established according to the rules specified by the psychologist. These rules provide for a relationship in which the psychologist has the opportunity to learn almost everything about the client, and the client receives information about the psychologist just as a specialist.

3. The nature of the contact between the consultant and the client reflects the peculiarities of the client's relations with other people, the style and stereotypes of his communication - the problems of clients can be seen as if in a mirror. The nature of the consultative contact in the very process of consulting depends on the theoretical orientation of the consultant. The counselor maintains personal anonymity so that the client can freely project their feelings onto them.

4. The focus is on reducing resistance from analyzing client transference responses and establishing more rational control. The consultant interprets the material supplied by the client and seeks to teach the client to relate his true behavior to the events of his past.

5. The emphasis is on the division of responsibility between the consultant and the client, mutual trust and respect, the equivalence of positions, the establishment of common goals for consulting.

6. The consultant is an active and policymaker; he plays the role of a teacher, trainer, striving to teach the client more effective behavior. The client must actively test new behaviors. Instead of a personal relationship between the consultant and the client, a working relationship is formed to carry out the training procedures.

Questions and tasks for self-control

1. The main task of the consultant is to get used to the client's existence and establish an authentic connection with him. Explain your own understanding of this thought.

2. Describe the main features of psycho-counseling contact.

Characteristics of a consultative contact, the main parameters of its definitions.

Advisory contact is unique dynamic process, during which one person helps another use their internal resources for development in a positive direction and actualize the potential and the meaning of a meaningful life (George, Cristiani, 1990).

The advisory contact is feelings and attitudes which consultation participants(consultant and client - Approx. ed.) are experiencing one in relation to another, and the way they are expressed (Gelso, Carter, 1985).

Nearly all of the definitions point to several unique features of the consultative contact. George and Cristiani (1990) singled out six basic parameters:

emotionality(consultative contact is emotional rather than cognitive, it involves the exploration of clients' experiences);

intensity(since contact represents a sincere attitude and mutual exchange of experiences, it cannot but be intense);

dynamism(when changing a client, the specifics of the contact also changes);

confidentiality(the consultant's obligation not to disclose the client's information contributes to the credibility);

support(constant support of the consultant ensures the stability of the contact͵ allowing the client to take risks and try to behave in a new way);

conscientiousness.

general characteristics consultative contact from the position of a psychologist-consultant in the psychoanalytic and Adlerian direction.

Direction	Advisory contact
Psychoanalytic direction	The consultant retains personal anonymity so that the client can freely project your feelings onto him... The main Attention paid decreasing resistance emerging when analyzing client transfer reactions, and the establishment of more rational control. The consultant interprets customer supplied material and seeks teach the client to link their present behavior with past events
Adlerian direction	Accentuated division of responsibility between consultant and client, mutual trust and respect, equivalence of positions, establishment general objectives of counseling

Psychotechnics in classical psychoanalysis. Classical psychoanalysis includes five basic techniques: a) the method of free associations; b) interpretation of dreams; c) interpretation; d) resistance analysis; e) analysis of the transfer.

Characteristics of a consultative contact, the main parameters of its definitions. - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Characteristics of the consultative contact, the main parameters of its definitions." 2017, 2018.

CONSULTATIVE CONTACT

Plan:

Define a consulting contract.
Therapeutic climate.
Physical components of the therapeutic climate.
Skills to maintain an advisory contract.

5. TRANSFER AND COUNTER-TRANSFER IN COUNSELING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY

DEFINITION OF CONSULTATIVE CONTACT

In 1975 S. Rogers (cited in: Gelso, Fretz, 1992) asked the question: "Is it possible to assert that there are necessary and sufficient conditions that contribute to positive personality change that could be clearly defined and measured? "To this question he himself answered, naming six conditions:

Two persons are in psychological contact.
The first character, let's call him "the client", is in a state of mental disorder, vulnerable and anxious.
The second character, let's call him a "consultant", actively participates in communication.
The consultant has unconditional respect for the client.
The counselor experiences empathy by accepting the client's point of view and makes it clear to him.
The empathic understanding and unconditional respect of the consultant is transmitted to the client, even with minimal expression.

No other conditions are required. If these six conditions are met within a certain period of time, this is sufficient. Positive personality changes will occur.

So, the client must be in contact with the counselor and come to a state that makes him sensitive to outside help. Conditions 3, 4 and 5 are especially important to provide sufficient counseling contact for assistance.

Trustful contact between the counselor and the client, based on unconditional respect, empathy, warmth and sincerity of the counselor in relation to the client, is an integral, and, in the opinion of many professionals, an essential component of psychological counseling and psychotherapy.

Consultative contact, although outwardly it seems formal and very short in comparison with the whole life of the client, is nevertheless closer, intense and deeper than any other interpersonal relationship. In counseling, the client turns to a stranger and reveals to him the smallest details of his personal life, about which, perhaps, no one else knows. What the client says often does not represent him in the best light. Sometimes, in the process of counseling, new aspects of the personality "emerge" that surprise, upset and even shock the client himself. All this makes the consultative contact an intimate relationship between two people, moreover, specifically intimate, unlike the usual friendship or love relationship. This specificity is well disclosed by Henry et al. (1973; cited in Kennedy, 1977):

“The uniqueness of the nature of therapeutic contact depends on the therapist's ability to distinguish between intimate-personal and intimate-therapeutic relationships. In contrast to close personal relationships, therapeutic contact, although filled with feelings, is asymmetric, that is, only the patient reveals intimate details of his life. to decide how much to open up and choose a way of reacting to the events presented by the client, or may not react at all. Contact is asymmetric also because only the therapist interprets the meaning of what is told and is able to assess the achievement of therapeutic goals. As a result, therapeutic contact is established according to the rules specified by the therapist These rules provide for a relationship in which the therapist has the opportunity to know almost everything about the client, and the client receives information about the therapist as just a specialist. " Considerations about the peculiarities of intimacy in the relationship between the client and the psychotherapist, despite the psychoanalytic categoricality, can, in our opinion, be attributed to the consultative contact.

We now turn to the definitions of the advisory contact. They are varied, but we will consider only two of the most general definitions that meet our point of view on psychological counseling.

Advisory contact is a unique dynamic process during which one person helps another to use their inner resources to develop in a positive direction and to actualize the potential of a meaningful life (George, Cristiani, 1990).

Advisory contact are the feelings and attitudes that the participants in the counseling (counselor and client - Approx. ed.) experience one in relation to another, and the way they are expressed (Gelso, Carter, 1985).

Nearly all definitions point to several unique features of the consultative contact. George and Cristiani (1990) identified six main dimensions:

emotionality (consultative contact is more emotional than cognitive, it involves the study of the experiences of clients);
intensity (since contact represents a sincere attitude and mutual exchange of experiences, it cannot but be intense);
dynamism (when changing a client, the specifics of the contact also changes);
confidentiality (the obligation of the consultant not to disseminate information about the client contributes to confidentiality);
provision of support (constant support of the consultant provides stability of contact, allowing the client to take risks and try to behave in a new way);
conscientiousness.

What makes counseling contact therapeutic, effective in solving clients' psychological problems? First of all, the fact that the very nature of the contact between the consultant and the client reflects the peculiarities of the client's relations with other people, the style and stereotypes of his communication - the problems of clients can be seen as if in a mirror.

The nature of the consultative contact in the very process of consulting depends on the theoretical orientation of the consultant (George, Cristiani, 1990).

Table 3. Current views on advisory contact

Direction	Advisory contact
Psychoanalytic direction	The counselor maintains personal anonymity so that the client can freely project their feelings onto them. The focus is on reducing resistance from analyzing client transference responses and establishing more rational control. The consultant interprets the material supplied by the client and seeks to teach the client to link his present behavior with the events of the past
Adlerian direction	The emphasis is on the division of responsibility between the consultant and the client, mutual trust and respect, the equivalence of positions, the establishment of common goals of consulting
Behavior therapy	The consultant is proactive and policymaker; he plays the role of a teacher, trainer, striving to teach the client more effective behavior. The client should actively test new behaviors. Instead of a personal relationship between the consultant and the client, a working relationship is established to carry out the training procedures
Rational emotional therapy (A. Ellis)	The consultant is the teacher and the client is the student. The personal relationship of the consultant with the client is not emphasized. The client is encouraged to understand his problems and, based on this understanding, to change his behavior, based on rational premises
Client Oriented Therapy (C. Rogers)	Advisory contact is the essence of the counseling process. Sincerity, warmth, empathy, respect, support from the consultant and the "transfer" of these attitudes to clients are especially emphasized. The client transfers the skills learned during the consultative contact to other relationships
Existential therapy	The main task of the consultant is to get used to the client's existence and establish an authentic connection with him. By contacting a consultant, the client reveals his uniqueness. The relationship between a consultant and a client is understood as a "person-to-person" contact, identical to a meeting of two equal people "here and now". During a consultative contact, both the consultant and the client change

As you can see from the table. 3, from the standpoint of various theoretical orientations of the "consultant-client" contact:

or creates the prerequisites for the start of change (behavior therapy and rational-emotional therapy);
or spontaneously changes the client (client-centered therapy or existential therapy);
or constitutes the content of the discussion and work in general (psychodynamic direction).

Thus, although representatives of, for example, existential-humanistic and psychodynamic directions use consultative contact in a particular work in different ways, they are unanimous in their opinion about its importance in the process of consulting (Prochaska, 1979).

2. THERAPEUTIC CLIMATE.
PHYSICAL COMPONENTS OF THE THERAPEUTIC CLIMATE

The quality of counseling contact depends on two important factors: the therapeutic climate, the counselor's skills (verbal and non-verbal) in maintaining communication.

The therapeutic climate, in turn, includes several emotionally significant components. From the physical components, we mention the equipment of the consultation place, the location of the consultant and the client in space (distance, manner of sitting, etc.), structuring of the time allocated for consulting. The actual emotional components of the therapeutic climate include the creation of an atmosphere of mutual trust, the sincerity of the consultant, his ability to empathy and unconditional respect for the client.

In this section, we discuss the physical components of the therapeutic climate.

Counseling setting

During psychological counseling, the client discloses and investigates his problems with less alertness if counseling takes place in a well-equipped office. It is clear that it is not always possible to provide ideal conditions, however, certain requirements are imposed on the place of consultation. Above all, counseling should take place in a calm environment, in a soundproof office. We know that the very process of counseling increases anxiety at first, so the client must be sure that outsiders will not hear him. If the client hears what is happening in the next room or corridor, he will doubt the confidentiality of communication with the consultant. This can prevent a therapeutically effective contact from occurring.

The office should not be very large, painted in soothing colors, comfortably furnished and not too pretentious. The light should not fall on the client. The office requires a table, comfortable chairs (three or four chairs in case of reception of several people, for example: the client's parents, a married couple, etc.). For relaxation classes, it is advisable to have a couch. Several paintings can be hung on the walls, books can be placed on the shelves, but the interior should not be overloaded so as not to distract the client's attention. Avoid keeping items that are too personal (such as family photos) or items that reflect the counselor's beliefs (such as a cross on the wall) in the workplace.

Each time the client should be received in the same office. This distracts him less, does not take time to master a new environment, and also makes him feel safer.

Sometimes there is an intermediary (such as a registrar) between the consultant and the client who performs secondary functions... However, the role of such a person is by no means secondary; he sets up the client to meet with a consultant. Therefore, the assistant should be able to communicate warmly and in a friendly manner, be hospitable, but in no case replace the consultant and not interfere with the client's life. He, like the consultant, is obliged to strictly observe the confidentiality requirements.

Structuring the advisory space

The client enters the room and enters the "consultant's territory". One of the main aspects of the interaction between the consultant and the client is what is referred to as "structuring the space". What already happens at the first meeting has an impact on the psychological well-being of the client. The meeting begins with an acquaintance. In this case, you should adhere to a certain etiquette: get up and meet the client halfway, introduce yourself, ask the client to give his first and last name, invite him to choose a seat and sit down before settling himself. In order for the client to feel at ease, the consultant from the first minutes of acquaintance should appear as a polite, hospitable host and behave naturally without undue stress.

Another issue related to structuring the advisory space is the location of the advisor and client. R. May (1968) uses the concept of "geometry of love". If the counselor and the client are seated on opposite sides of the table, there is a social distance between them and the counseling atmosphere is likely to be formal. This position is suitable for restless clients - the table serves as a communication barrier. For consulting, on the contrary, the position of the location of the consultant and the client at the table on the same side is favorable. In these conditions, the consultant has access to all the non-verbal information coming from the client, in addition, he can change (and allows the client to change) the distance between them depending on the situation of counseling or when changing the counseling contact. Positioning against each other allows for more cooperative relationships. The distance between the consultant and the client reflects the phenomenon of "personal space" well-known in social psychology. Personal space changes depending on the relationship of the participants in the conversation, the topic under discussion, cultural differences. Due to the incorrectly chosen distance in counseling (for example, the disparity in the social or age aspect of personal space), some topics cannot be touched upon at all. Closely related to the problem of distance is the question of the therapeutic meaning and the possibility of physically touching the client. Touch means a very close, intimate contact. Research by Holroyd and Brodsky (1977, cited in Corey, 1986) showed that about half of the psychotherapists surveyed believed that physical non-erotic contact was valuable in the counseling process. It is most appropriate for:

counseling socially and emotionally immature clients;
counseling people in crisis after trauma, especially related to the loss of loved ones;
striving to demonstrate emotional support.

However, it is very difficult to establish the boundary where non-erotic physical contact becomes erotic. In any case, touch should not be used as a specific counseling technique in the absence of sincere, genuine feelings towards the client. For touch to help create a therapeutic climate that is safe for the client, it must be spontaneous and sincere.

Structuring consultation times

The therapeutic climate also presupposes the proper structuring of time. Already the first meeting with the client should last as long as all subsequent meetings. Sometimes the first meeting is delayed due to the need to get to know the client better and gives him hope for an unrealistic duration of the consultation. Therefore, it is best not to create false expectations.

Typically, a counseling conversation with an adult lasts from 50 minutes to one hour. This duration is not accidental. A shorter conversation makes both the consultant and the client nervous, giving the impression that they will not have enough time to discuss the issues that arose during the meeting in depth. A longer conversation, although sometimes desired by both the client and the counselor, will tire both counselors too much. Psychotherapy and counseling require concentration and vigilance, and, as you know, it is difficult to maintain concentration for more than 45-50 minutes. The traditional 50 minutes for a consultative meeting allows you to productively discuss several issues, and then devote 10 minutes to recording the main aspects of the previous conversation or just relaxing over a cup of coffee. This is also important when accepting multiple clients in a row. The length of the conversation may vary depending on the age of the client. George and Cristiani (1990) point out that a conversation with a 5-7 year old child should not last more than 20 minutes, with an 8-12 year old - about 30 minutes, and with children over 12 years old, a counseling conversation can last up to 1 hour.

The consultant determines the duration of the conversation at the beginning of the meeting. The client should know how much time he has to discuss urgent problems. When the counselor does not set the duration of the conversation, he makes the client constantly nervous that the appointment may stop at any time. This kind of manipulative behavior is undesirable. Time limits can be set in a variety of ways:

"We have 50 minutes at our disposal, and I am ready to listen to you.".

"I suppose you could start with what you expect from the counseling. We have 50 minutes of time".

"How would you like to use our time today? We have 50 minutes".

The consultation meeting comes to an end after almost 40 minutes. To help the client better navigate in time, we must remind him that time is running out: "Today we have about 10 minutes left, what else would you like to discuss during this time?" A preoccupied client is often poorly timed, so this reminder can be important.

At the beginning of the counseling session, the total duration of the counseling session must also be determined. Of course, at the very beginning it is difficult to establish how long it will take to solve certain problems. Therefore, it is possible to conclude a specific contract with the client for 3-4 meetings, and then finally decide whether the consulting contact is productive and how long the consulting can last.

At the beginning of the counseling session, the frequency of meetings should also be determined. It is generally believed that one or two meetings a week are enough to establish productive contact. If we meet less often, it becomes much more difficult to get to know the client better, to remember what happened in the last meeting, and also to maintain a continuity of the counseling process.

CONSULTATIVE CONTACT

3. 1. DEFINITION OF CONSULTATIVE CONTACT

In 1975, S. Rogers (cited in Gelso, Fretz, 1992) asked the question: "Can it be argued that there are necessary and sufficient conditions conducive to positive personality change that could be clearly defined and measured?" He himself answered this question, naming six conditions:

1. Two persons are in psychological contact.

2. The first character, let's call him "client", is in a state of mental disorder, vulnerable and anxious.

3. The second character, let's call him a "consultant", actively participates in communication.

4. The consultant has unconditional respect for the client.

5. The counselor experiences empathy by accepting the client's point of view and makes it clear to him.

6. Empathic understanding and unconditional respect of the consultant is transmitted to the client even with minimal expression.

No other conditions are required. If these six conditions are met within a certain period of time, this is sufficient. Positive personality changes will occur.

We now turn to the definitions of the advisory contact. They are varied, but we will consider only two of the most general definitions that meet our point of view on psychological counseling.

Nearly all definitions point to several unique features of the consultative contact. George and Cristiani (1990) identified six main dimensions:

Emotionality (consultative contact is more emotional than cognitive, it involves the study of the experiences of clients);

· Intensity (since contact represents a sincere attitude and mutual exchange of experiences, it cannot but be intense);

· Dynamism (when changing a client, the specifics of the contact also changes);

· Confidentiality (the obligation of the consultant not to disseminate information about the client promotes confidentiality);

· Provision of support (constant support of the consultant provides stability of contact, allowing the client to take risks and try to behave in a new way);

· Conscientiousness.

The nature of the consultative contact in the very process of consulting depends on the theoretical orientation of the consultant (George, Cristiani, 1990).

Table 3. Current views on advisory contact

Direction	Advisory contact
Psychoanalytic direction	The counselor maintains personal anonymity so that the client can freely project their feelings onto them. The focus is on reducing resistance from analyzing client transference responses and establishing more rational control. The consultant interprets the material supplied by the client and seeks to teach the client to link his present behavior with the events of the past
Adlerian direction	The emphasis is on the division of responsibility between the consultant and the client, mutual trust and respect, the equivalence of positions, the establishment of common goals of consulting
Behavior therapy	The consultant is proactive and policymaker; he plays the role of a teacher, trainer, striving to teach the client more effective behavior. The client should actively test new behaviors. Instead of a personal relationship between the consultant and the client, a working relationship is established to carry out the training procedures
Rational emotional therapy (A. Ellis)	The consultant is the teacher and the client is the student. The personal relationship of the consultant with the client is not emphasized. The client is encouraged to understand his problems and, based on this understanding, to change his behavior, based on rational premises
Client Oriented Therapy (C. Rogers)	Advisory contact is the essence of the counseling process. Sincerity, warmth, empathy, respect, support from the consultant and the "transfer" of these attitudes to clients are especially emphasized. The client transfers the skills learned during the consultative contact to other relationships
Existential therapy	The main task of the consultant is to get used to the client's existence and establish an authentic connection with him. By contacting a consultant, the client reveals his uniqueness. The relationship between a consultant and a client is understood as a "person-to-person" contact, identical to a meeting of two equal people "here and now". During a consultative contact, both the consultant and the client change

As you can see from the table. 3, from the standpoint of various theoretical orientations of the "consultant-client" contact:

· Or creates the prerequisites for the start of change (behavior therapy and rational-emotional therapy);

· Or spontaneously changes the client (client-oriented therapy or existential therapy);

· Or constitutes the content of discussion and work in general (psychodynamic direction).

SKILLS OF MAINTAINING CONSULTATIVE CONTACT

Non-verbal communication

In communication, people continuously transmit information to each other not only through speech, but also by facial expressions, body movements, setting distance, etc. Thus, when we are together, we cannot avoid communication in any way. We express how we feel, what we think, what we would like to do without saying a word. Non-verbal human behavior is very significant in the process of communication. In counseling, we also send clients non-verbal messages and "read" their non-verbal responses. It is imperative that the counselor notes and responds to clients' non-verbal messages, while also being aware of the impact of their non-verbal behavior on clients.

Gazda et al. (1984) categorized non-verbal responses into four basic modalities. This structuring helps to better understand and observe non-verbal behavior.

1. Non-verbal behavior and time structuring.

a. identification - slow response to partner messages;

b. priorities - the relative time to discuss specific topics.

2. Non-verbal communication using the body.

a. eye contact - it is important how long and how the partners look at each other during the conversation; eye contact is highly culturally dependent, for example, in some cultures, eye contact is avoided out of respect; eye contact is especially important to regulate advisory interactions; When assessing eye contact, attention should be paid to:

§ consideration of specific objects,

§ looking down,

§ consideration of the consultant with a defiant gaze,

§ "running" from object to object look,

Averting eyes from the consultant when he looks at the client,

§ covering eyes with hands,

§ the frequency of gaze delay near the consultant;

b. eyes - "sparkle" and glitter of the eyes, tears in the eyes, "widening of the eyes", the position of the eyebrows indicate the client's excitement;

c. skin - the condition of the skin matters: pallor, redness, "goose bumps";

d. posture - can serve as an indicator of alertness or physical fatigue, indicate self-defense (for example, crossed arms or legs);

e. facial expression is perhaps the most important non-verbal "key" of counseling; Knapp (1973) writes: “The face has great potential for communication. emotional condition; reflects interpersonal attitudes; serves as a means of feedback for communication partners and, along with speech, is the main source of information transfer. "In the interpretation of facial expressions, play a role: a frozen expression, a wrinkled forehead, frowning eyebrows, a smile and laughter (F. Dostoevsky said:" A person's character can be much better learn from his laugh than from boring psychological research"); it is very difficult for a neurotic individual to laugh - he can mock, be ironic or sarcastic, but he is not able to laugh sincerely, he has sad face; the counselor should be able to read on the client's face joy, pain and fear, as well as how some feelings are masked by others;

f. hands and gestures - movements of hands and other parts of the body are often symbolic, can indicate something is wrong;

g. manipulating your body - manifests itself in biting nails, crunching joints, pulling out hair;

h. Monotonous behavior is often a sign of nervousness - it is stamping with feet, tapping with fingers, twisting objects and playing with buttons;

i. command signals - holding a finger to the lips (an invitation to be silent), pointing with the finger, shrugging the shoulders, nodding the head, winking;

j. touch - may represent friendship or sexuality.

Speaking of non-verbal communication using the body, mention should be made of the four types of body movements identified by Elman and Friesen (1969; cited in Gelso, Fretz, 1992):

· Symbols that replace words, for example, waving a hand to signify goodbye;

· Accompanying demonstrations, which attempt to explain what is being said;

· Regulators that complement the flow of verbal interaction, for example: changing posture, head nodding, etc .;

· Adapters, i.e. body movements that do not have a conscious purposefulness, but often reflect thoughts and feelings, for example, lip biting, etc.

b. speech rate - fast, moderate, slow;

d. pronunciation - distinct, indistinct. The modality of the voice often betrays the inner attitude to the utterance. Sincerity is manifested in the clarity of the voice, courage - in the firmness of the voice; vague, too quiet speech often means unwillingness to communicate. By the tone of your voice, you can determine what the speech is about, without even understanding it. Nervousness and emotional confusion are best reflected in the voice.

4. Non-verbal communication and structuring of the environment:

a. distance - not always aware of the approach to a partner or the desire to move away from him - indicates the expression of the desire to deepen the relationship;

b. furnishings and equipment of the room;

c. clothing - hardly "clothing makes a person", but the details of clothing will tell a lot about the attitudes of the person wearing it, for example, restless clients pay particular attention to clothing when going to a consultative meeting;

d. position in space - this modality is considered when discussing the therapeutic climate.

Non-verbal communication factors are largely responsible for the emotional tone of the conversation. When non-verbal symbols accompany our verbal statements, they often modify their meaning. For example, the sentence "Please come in" may have different meanings depending on non-verbal behavior. If we meet a client, looking at him, shake hands and say these words warmly and friendly - the meaning of the invitation is the same, but it is completely different, when we look somewhere to the side without giving the client a glance, and we pronounce the invitation indifferently or, even worse , with a hint of irritation or discontent.

Para-speech elements (tone of voice, spacing between words, accents, diction, pauses, repetitions, coughing, various "hmm", "aha", "mmm", "hoo " etc.).

The client's non-verbal behavior in the counseling situation is very important. First of all, it gives the consultant additional information about the thoughts and feelings of the client. Often, words say one thing, and the tone of voice, facial expression, body posture reveal a completely different content or other meaning of what was said. The counselor should pay attention to the discrepancy between verbal and non-verbal behavior of clients and thereby help them express real, authentic feelings. The counselor's orientation in non-verbal responses increases client confidence. Clients attribute the consultant to a deep observation or "sixth sense" most often due to his ability to "read" non-verbal behavior.

Non-verbal behavior should be viewed as a special "key" to understanding the client's feelings and motives. However, too straightforward interpretations are unacceptable, since non-verbal actions are part of a broader context of behavior, and this context gives them a similar or different meaning. Even the same non-verbal expressions can mean different things depending on the context. For example, eye contact implies friendliness, intimacy, when people are close to each other; however, a long look at the interlocutor indicates aggression if the relationship is formal. Likewise, touch can mean both caring and seeking intimacy or domination. In addition, there are clear cross-cultural differences in perceptions of non-verbal behavior that must be considered when working in a multicultural environment.

The non-verbal behavior of the counselor himself is very important, since he also expresses unspoken feelings and thoughts, and this is often understood by the client. We all perceive some non-verbal responses the same way, because they have acquired the character of a social convention. Therefore, the counselor must control his non-verbal behavior in order to turn it into a counseling tool. With his non-verbal behavior, the consultant also develops a consultative contact, striving not to allegedly be with the client, but to be with him in reality, to be physically. In everyday life, you can find many examples of an imaginary stay with another person, which reflects the common remark: "You do not listen to what I say!" Egan (1986) gave the acronym SOLER the five true conditions for being physically together:

1. Be with the client face to face (squarely). The physical environment should allow counselor and client to see each other fully; she must "say" to the client: "I am available to you; I have made a choice to be with you."

2. Be in an open posture. Crossed arms and legs are commonly interpreted as a defensive, apathetic, and retreating posture. Conversely, an open posture means that the consultant is ready to accept whatever the client reveals. Of course, the consultant's arms crossed does not necessarily mean that he "got out" of contact. The main thing here is that the consultant constantly asks himself: "To what extent does my posture reflect the openness and availability to the client?"

3. From time to time to lean towards the client. When the consultant leans towards the client, he seems to say: "I am with you, and I am interested in everything that you will now tell." In this position, the consultant expresses his involvement and participation in the contact. On the other hand, don't overdo it, i.e. do not approach the client excessively and too quickly, because this can raise anxiety, it seems like a demand for quick and close contact.

4. Maintain eye contact with the client to emphasize attention and interest, but contact should not be continuous. In this case, it becomes like an annoying "goggle" eyes at the client. On the other hand, if the consultant's gaze too often "wanders" in space, without dwelling on the client, then the impression of avoiding contact is created.

5. Be relaxed. Since most clients are worried in a counseling situation, it is important that the counselor is not tense and does not increase the client's anxiety. The counselor should naturally use his body (non-verbal behavior), trying to show the client his empathic involvement in the counseling contact.

Verbal communication

Despite the importance of non-verbal communication in counseling, the most important events occur at the verbal level. The essence of the counselor's verbal behavior is the way he responds during the counseling period, which can be defined as the main techniques. We will talk about them in more detail in the fourth section.

Client Hearing

Usually, a conversation between two people is similar to verbal ping-pong - the interlocutors speak in turn. However, in counseling and psychotherapy, things are different, especially at the beginning of the conversation. Here, the counselor's verbal activity should be minimal so that the client can focus on revealing his problems and difficulties. The consultant should not so much talk as listen. Listening means expressing a genuine interest in the other person.

There are two important aspects to this skill. Firstly, each person feels the need to communicate with another person on matters that are important to him. Second, our tendency to support or agree with others depends on how much they listen to us. We can safely say that the quality of relations between people depends to a large extent on the ability to listen and hear.

However, there are some circumstances that make it difficult to listen carefully. Often what the client says does not correspond to the counselor's attitude, and he does not listen carefully. There is a widespread manner, often in counseling, when we do not so much listen to the interlocutor as react to his messages, in our thoughts formulating in advance remarks, answers, questions, etc. This is just an appearance of a hearing. One of the consequences of social learning is avoiding unnecessary information about the other person, which sometimes prompts the counselor to resist the client's talk about deeply personal matters, and the result of this resistance is again inattentive listening. Sometimes the events or topics discussed by the client cause unpleasant feelings: anxiety, tension. The consultant, trying to avoid an unpleasant state, may not hear some important details in the narrative. Listening difficulties are also caused by clients who continually complain about their problems, especially somatic symptoms (for example, psychosomatic patients).

Listening is primarily feedback with the thoughts and feelings of the client, encourages the client to further talk about their life, about its difficulties and problems. If the counselor is attentive, the client, according to Sox (1988), "replaces the period at the end of a sentence with a comma, and what appeared to be the end of the disclosure becomes a prelude to a deeper revelation."

In any case, proper listening is an active process. It, says Bugental (1987), encompasses "all kinds of sensation plus intuition, reflection and empathy." This refers to the tremendous attention to detail, no matter how small. The listener needs to be interested and understanding, but not prevent the narrator from staying in the stream of experiences; the counselor listening to the client should be relaxed and observant so that the confessions heard generate an abundant associative flow. The associations that arise serve as certain "keys" to understanding the client's problems. But one should not cling to them, since some of the associations and ideas that have arisen are not later confirmed and discarded. You do not need to share your associations with the client, because they can be completely wrong. Rather, associations are a guide to listening further, asking questions, and encouraging the client to "explore" new areas of the subjective world. Active listening of this kind helps to link individual fragments of the client's story, as a result of which the main task of counseling is realized - understanding the client.

William Osier (quoted in Sokh, 1988) liked to tell his students, "Listen to the patient, he tells you the diagnosis." Best advice there can be no consultant. Rogers (1969) beautifully writes about the main therapeutic meaning of correct listening and the meaning of listening for the client:

“In my life, many times I unexpectedly faced insoluble problems, felt myself walking in a circle, finally imbued with inferiority and hopelessness, believed that I was in psychosis. At such moments I thought that I would be happy if I could find people who would listen to me and show a depth of understanding. So that they listen without evaluations and judgments, without making a diagnosis. I was able to make sure that if, with psychological discomfort, someone listens in this way, without taking responsibility and not trying to form an attitude, you feel insanely good. The tension immediately subsides. Previously frightening guilt, hopelessness, confusion become an acceptable part of the inner world. When I was listened to and heard, I perceived my experiences in a new way and could move on. It is surprising that feelings that seemed terrible become quite tolerant, when someone listens, insoluble problems seem feasible. I deeply appreciate the duck, empathic, attentive listening. "

(3) Features of the relationship "client-therapist" in various areas of psychotherapy.

Therapist-client relationship in the psychotherapeutic process

The relevance of the problem of the relationship "therapist - client" in the psychotherapeutic process is due to the insufficient theoretical elaboration of the question of the relationship between the effectiveness of psychotherapy and the nature of the relationship "therapist - client". The object of our research is the psychotherapeutic process. The subject is the relationship between therapist and client. We proceed from the general position that the effectiveness of psychotherapy is determined by the characteristics of the relationship between the psychotherapist and the client. In our research, we used methods of analysis of literature sources, monographic research, theoretical modeling and theoretical analysis. The problem of the therapist-client relationship is to find the optimal model of the relationship that would determine the effectiveness of psychotherapy as a whole. This problem involves looking at the personality of the therapist and the personality of the client as factors that determine the nature of the relationship. The problem of the relationship between the therapist and the client is associated with the problem of the emotional dependence of the client and the therapist, with the relationship between role and personality in psychotherapy, with the problem of assessing the effectiveness of psychotherapy and concluding a psychotherapeutic contract.

Analysis of the literature showed that the question of the main therapeutic mechanism of the attitude is solved in different ways by representatives of the psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral and existential-humanistic directions. The psychodynamic direction (psychoanalysis) uses the concepts of transference and countertransference to analyze the relationship "therapist - client". Transference refers to the patient's projection of early childhood relationships and desires onto the psychoanalyst; countertransference refers to the doctor's transference response to the patient, when the psychoanalyst reacts to his patient in the same way as to a significant person in his early life history.

Primary drives and needs are considered as the main determinant of personal development and behavior, and neurosis as a consequence of their repression into the unconscious and conflict with consciousness; hence the main task of psychotherapy is the awareness of this conflict, which is solved through the transference. In behavioral psychotherapy, the therapist directs the treatment process. Representatives of this direction consider personality as behavior, and neurosis - maladaptive behavior resulting from improper learning, therefore, during therapy, the problem of learning new, adaptive ways of behavior is solved through directive control from the therapist. The humanistic direction (client-centered psychotherapy by K. Rogers) emphasizes the psychotherapist's authenticity in relation to the client, an unquestionably positive assessment of the patient and empathy. This direction considers as the basic need of the individual for self-actualization, and neurosis as a result of blocking this need, hence the task of psychotherapy, which consists in acquiring a new emotional experience by the patient, contributing to the formation of an adequate holistic image of the Self, and opportunities for self-actualization of the individual.

Therefore, the effectiveness of psychotherapy is possible with different types relationships. In this regard, some contradictions arise. First, if therapy can be effective in different types of therapist-client relationship, then it means that it does not depend on this variable and it is necessary to look for another. In other words, the type of relationship is irrelevant to the effectiveness of therapy. Second, if the relationship does not describe a meaningful reality that determines the effectiveness of therapy, then there is something in therapy that is not determined by the category of relationship, but at the same time determines its effectiveness. In this regard, it is advisable to raise the question of the relationship between the personal and technological aspects of psychotherapy and their importance for its successful completion. Taking into account the fact that when using various techniques in building the relationship between the therapist and the client, the effectiveness of each psychotherapeutic direction remains, then does this not mean that the leading role in psychotherapy remains with the personal aspect, or rather, with the personality of the therapist.

Thus, it would be correct to speak not about the effectiveness of the technique, but about the effectiveness of the therapist's personality. Hence it follows that the fundamental variable in determining the effectiveness of psychotherapy is the therapist's personality, modifying the therapy techniques and correcting attitudes according to the principle of the greatest acceptability for oneself (the personality). Summing up, it should be said that the hypothesis of our research, which is that the effectiveness of psychotherapy is determined by the characteristics of the relationship between the psychotherapist and the client, was confirmed, adjusted for the significant role of the therapist's personality in building the type of relationship.

The main directions of psychotherapy, their features and level of impact

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on the topic: Consultative contact

1. Definition of advisory contact

1. Two persons are in psychological contact.

2. The first character, let's call him "client", is in a state of mental disorder, vulnerable and anxious.

3. The second character, let's call him a "consultant", actively participates in communication.

4. The consultant has unconditional respect for the client.

5. The counselor experiences empathy by accepting the client's point of view and makes it clear to him.

6. Empathic understanding and unconditional respect of the consultant is transmitted to the client even with minimal expression.

No other conditions are required. If these six conditions are met within a certain period of time, this is sufficient. Positive personality changes will occur.

Trustful contact between the counselor and the client, based on the unconditional respect, empathy, warmth and sincerity of the counselor towards the client, is an integral part, and in the opinion of many professionals, an essential component of psychological counseling and psychotherapy.

We now turn to the definitions of the advisory contact. They are varied, but we will consider only two of the most general definitions that meet our point of view on psychological counseling.

Consultative contact is a unique dynamic process during which one person helps another to use their inner resources to develop in a positive direction and to actualize the potential of meaningful living (George, Cristiani, 1990).

Consultative contact is the feelings and attitudes that the participants in the counseling (consultant and client - Ed. Auth.) Experience one in relation to another, and the way they are expressed (Gelso, Carter, 1985).

Nearly all definitions point to several unique features of the consultative contact. George and Cristiani (1990) identified six main dimensions:

Emotionality (consultative contact is more emotional than cognitive, it involves the study of the experiences of clients);

· Intensity (since contact represents a sincere attitude and mutual exchange of experiences, it cannot but be intense);

· Dynamism (when changing a client, the specifics of the contact also changes);

· Confidentiality (the obligation of the consultant not to disseminate information about the client promotes confidentiality);

· Provision of support (constant support of the consultant provides stability of contact, allowing the client to take risks and try to behave in a new way);

· Conscientiousness.

Table 3. Current views on advisory contact

Direction	Advisory contact
Psychoanalytic direction	The counselor maintains personal anonymity so that the client can freely project their feelings onto them. The focus is on reducing resistance from analyzing client transference responses and establishing more rational control. The consultant interprets the material supplied by the client and seeks to teach the client to link his present behavior with the events of the past
Adlerian direction	The emphasis is on the division of responsibility between the consultant and the client, mutual trust and respect, the equivalence of positions, the establishment of common goals of consulting
Behavior therapy	The consultant is proactive and policymaker; he plays the role of a teacher, trainer, striving to teach the client more effective behavior. The client should actively test new behaviors. Instead of a personal relationship between the consultant and the client, a working relationship is established to carry out the training procedures
Rational emotional therapy (A. Ellis)	The consultant is the teacher and the client is the student. The personal relationship of the consultant with the client is not emphasized. The client is encouraged to understand his problems and, based on this understanding, to change his behavior, based on rational premises
Client Oriented Therapy (C. Rogers)	Advisory contact is the essence of the counseling process. Sincerity, warmth, empathy, respect, support from the consultant and the "transfer" of these attitudes to clients are especially emphasized. The client transfers the skills learned during the consultative contact to other relationships
Existential therapy	The main task of the consultant is to get used to the client's existence and establish an authentic connection with him. By contacting a consultant, the client reveals his uniqueness. The relationship between a consultant and a client is understood as a "person-to-person" contact, identical to a meeting of two equal people "here and now". During a consultative contact, both the consultant and the client change

As you can see from the table. 3, from the standpoint of different theoretical orientations of the "consultant-client" contact:

· Or creates the prerequisites for the start of change (behavior therapy and rational-emotional therapy);

· Or spontaneously changes the client (client-oriented therapy or existential therapy);

· Or constitutes the content of discussion and work in general (psychodynamic direction).

2. Therapeutic climate. Physical components of the therapeutic climate

The quality of counseling contact depends on two important factors: the therapeutic climate, the counselor's skills (verbal and non-verbal) in maintaining communication.

In this section, we discuss the physical components of the therapeutic climate.

Counseling setting

Each time the client should be received in the same office. This distracts him less, does not take time to master a new environment, and also makes him feel safer.

Sometimes there is an intermediary (such as a registrar) between the consultant and the client who performs a supporting function. However, the role of such a person is by no means secondary; he sets up the client to meet with a consultant. Therefore, the assistant should be able to communicate warmly and in a friendly manner, be hospitable, but in no case replace the consultant and not interfere with the client's life. He, like the consultant, is obliged to strictly observe the confidentiality requirements.

Structuring the advisory space

· Counseling socially and emotionally immature clients;

· Counseling people in crisis after mental trauma, especially related to the loss of loved ones;

· Seeking to demonstrate emotional support.

Structuring consultation times

"We have 50 minutes at our disposal, and I am ready to listen to you."

"I guess you could start with what you expect from the counseling. We have 50 minutes."

"How would you like to use our time today? We have 50 minutes."

3. Emotional components of the therapeutic climate. Building mutual trust

People seeking help from a counselor or therapist are in a state of anxiety and fear. At first, they do not know what to expect from the counseling and the consultant, nevertheless they come to the consultation with their problems and hope for understanding. If from the very beginning the client treats the counselor with confidence, then in the process of counseling he will become more courageous to share his feelings, thoughts, fears that are not so easy to discuss with a stranger. If the client is not trusted, the consultant's work will be ineffective and meaningless.

Building mutual trust means creating a therapeutic climate conducive to discussing significant issues. This is the responsibility of the consultant. The success of creating a therapeutic climate is due to the personal qualities of the consultant and his attitude to counseling:

· A sincere interest in people and a genuine desire to help them are needed. It is important to love not only humanity, but also an individual person. We must not forget that clients have a subtle sense of whether the consultant is interested in them in essence or only as objects of research. Clients' anxiety is reflected in quotes from their confessions: "He looked at me as if he wanted to decide whether he put my card in that box, and not as another human being"; "I suddenly heard him talking about the case, and I realized with horror that it was about me." None of us wants to be treated as "case", "combatant" or "investigated";

During counseling, all attention should be paid to the client, you should not engage in extraneous matters (for example: talking on the phone, allowing colleagues to enter the office and discuss with them some, albeit even important issues, hover in thoughts outside the office, etc.) );

· It is necessary to provide the client with the maximum opportunity to speak. He comes to the counselor not to listen to teachings and wise advice, but to talk about the oppressive and difficult aspects of his life;

· Do not be overly curious. The consultant doesn't have to be like a detective. Only that information about the client is important, which is necessary to understand his problems. If the counselor forces the client to open up excessively, the client after the visit feels uncomfortable, experiences feelings of guilt and often stops counseling;

· Professional confidentiality must be observed. If the consultant for some reason is obliged to share with other information about the client (for example, when supervising the consultation), he must be notified;

· Help the client to feel at ease during counseling meetings. For this, the consultant must show friendliness, sincerity, naturalness, be able to enter the client's position;

· The client's problems must be treated without judgment. The consultant should not evaluate, but listen, hear and understand. When a counselor genuinely and naturally demonstrates an “accept” attitude, the client feels understood and respected.

The importance of "acceptance" for the growth and change of the client's personality S. Rogers (1961) defined the well-known hypothesis "if - then":

"If I sincerely and warmly treat a person, I try to find an individual approach to him and appreciate his efforts, then he:

· Realizes those aspects of identity that were previously suppressed;

· Become more integrated and able to live more fully;

• will become more like who he wants to be;

• will become more self-confident and inclined to self-determination;

· Will become a more unique and self-actualizing person;

· understand better others and will become more tolerant, will more effectively resist the hardships of life. "

S. Rogers (1961) also formulated the questions that the consultant must ask himself. These questions explain the conditions for the emergence of mutual trust and at the same time represent the criterion for the necessary self-confidence of the consultant:

· Can I be such that other people perceive me as a reliable person?

· Can I clearly express my thoughts so that in communication I am understood unambiguously?

· Can I have attitudes towards another person based on warmth, care, respect, interest?

· Can I be a strong enough person to be different from others?

· Can I feel confident enough to allow another person to be different from me?

· Can I allow myself to completely immerse myself in the world of feelings and personal meanings of another person and experience similar experiences?

· Can I accept another person as he is? Will I be able to convey this to him?

· Can I be empathetic enough in my dealings with others so that my behavior is not perceived as a threat?

· Can I free another person from the danger of external evaluations?

· Can I accept the other person as being in the process of becoming or will I be constrained by him and my experience?

To establish mutual trust, as is now generally recognized, the consultant especially needs the qualities first identified by S. Rogers (1951): sincerity, the ability to empathize and unconditional respect for people.

Sincerity of the advisory contact (congruence)

Sincerity is one of the most important elements in creating a therapeutic climate. Sincerity cannot be learned, but the consultant must be able to behave with clients in such a way that they perceive entering their inner world as support, and not as a threat. According to S. Rogers (1957), congruence means that “in interpersonal relationships, the consultant naturally and naturally expresses his experiences ... Congruence is the conscious or unconscious opposite of showing the facade ... It is known that the manifestation of the self is not considered an ideal style in psychotherapy. .The therapist should not demonstrate integration at all. the highest degree at every step. It is enough to remain oneself during psychotherapeutic contact. "

So, the sincerity of the consultant is his ability to remain himself and the lack of the need to demonstrate a professional facade. A sincere consultant does not hide behind a mask and does not try to fulfill a role. He is natural in contact, because he is sensitive to his reactions and feelings, conscientious and truthful in communicating them to clients. Sincerity presupposes the correspondence of statements to feelings and non-verbal behavior, spontaneity. Congruent interaction also allows the client not to hide behind a facade when communicating with a consultant. A consultant who is open to his feelings, thoughts, attitudes and at the same time does not experience anxiety contributes to the client's comfortable state.

It should be noted that the stated point of view on the manifestation of sincerity by a consultant in a counseling situation is not the only one. Although no one claims that the consultant should be insincere or can deceive the client, however, how much he should share with the client own feelings, considerations about counseling - opinions do not coincide. In general, analytic counselors are much less likely to share their feelings with clients than existential-humanistic counselors. Nevertheless, everyone agrees that the frankness of the consultant in the relationship with the client has a limit - the consultant does not discuss or solve his own problems with the client.

Empathy in counseling

The positive value of empathic understanding for counseling outcomes is best documented empirically. This value is not disputed by representatives of all orientations.

Empathy is the sine qua non of counseling and psychotherapy. It includes identification with another person, in which mutual understanding between different people becomes possible. This is a rather mysterious process. A. Adler (quoted in May 1967) writes:

"Empathy appears when one person talks to another. It is impossible to understand another individual if we do not identify with him ... If we try to discover where the ability to act and feel like another person comes from, then we discover the existence of an innate social feeling. It is cosmic. character and is an indispensable characteristic of human life. "

According to S. Jung (cited in May, 1967), this is where the merger process takes place, in which both the consultant and the client change:

"The meeting of two personalities is like a combination of chemical substances; if a reaction occurs, they both change. It is believed that the doctor influences the patient in each case. effective treatment psyche, but this influence is possible if it is influenced by the patient. "

Thus, the manifestation of empathy in communication means that the counselor responds sensitively and accurately to the client's experiences, as if they were his own.

This implies the ability to "get used to" the client's subjective world and understand the meaning of various events in this world. This "entry" should be non-judgmental, not dividing the content of the other world into right and wrong, good and bad parts. The advisor's non-judgmental attitude allows clients to accept themselves more. When a counselor accurately and diligently identifies a variety of feelings - anger, fear, hostility, anxiety, joy - the client is able to better hear and understand himself.

Empathy also helps the counselor to understand the reasons for the client's lack of frankness: the client does not talk about something, because this is hindered by unconscious resistance, he simply hides something and does not talk about something because of fears of not being heard (Sokh, 1988). counseling contact psychotherapy trust

Having entered the world of another person, it is important for the consultant to remain autonomous from the client, i.e. preserve the self. There is some danger here, which was expressed by S. Rogers (1961):

"If I am really open to how the other person understands life, and I accept his world into my own, then I risk starting to look at life through his eyes and, as a result of the loss of selfhood, resist change with him. The other extreme is to fully preserve my own view of the world, scrupulous analysis and over-evaluation, and then the understanding of the other person becomes inaccessible. "

Therefore, the consultant's empathy for the client should never be total, but only partial and temporary.

Empathy means the counselor's ability to not only empathize but also understand the client. In this sense, it is an affective and cognitive skill - affective, since it allows the counselor to identify the client's feelings, and cognitive - because it obliges the counselor to identify events that evoke the corresponding feelings (George, Cristiani, 1990). This is the view of most representatives of psychological counseling on empathy as a multi-stage process.

According to Gladstein (1983), firstly, empathic cognition is carried out primarily emotionally, through empathy with the client. Empathy is never complete. Rather, it is a process in which the counselor partially experiences the client's feelings while maintaining the necessary detachment.

Second, empathy is a cognitive process in which the consultant carefully analyzes what he has encountered in the client's subjective world and conveys the meaning of the content to the client. Third, as noted by S. Rogers (1975), the transfer of empathy to the client is important.

Empathic understanding can be shown to the client in a variety of ways - by silence, reflection of feelings, successful and timely interpretation, telling a story, accurate metaphor, etc.

IN last years(reviewed by Hackley (1978); cited in Gelso and Fretz, 1992) there has been a tendency to reduce the subjective experience of empathy, which the counselor may express in a variety of ways, to skillful communication. An attempt is made to narrow what Rogers understood as a "way of being" to a skill that can be trained. This tendency also manifests itself in equating empathy with one of the psychological counseling techniques - the reflection of feelings (the counselor paraphrases and reflects the client's feelings to help him express them). Although reflection facilitates the transmission of empathic understanding, the complex and multi-stage process of empathy is by no means exhausted by a particular technique.

Since empathy is not a simple skill, the question of learning remains unclear. The consultant's unique ability to empathy lies in the client's peculiar vision - the ability to delve into his non-verbal behavior and feelings, said about these feelings and, on the basis of intuition, understand what the client says frankly and what he is silent about, etc.

Unconditional respect for the client

The term "unconditional respect" means the unconditional and non-judgmental acceptance of the client as a whole person. Followers of S. Rogers also use the term "unconditional positive attitude", which is identified with emotional warmth and care - the most complex and contradictory components of the therapeutic climate.

S. Rogers (1957) offers the following definition: "An unconditional positive attitude" is a tolerance for all aspects of the client's subjective world, as if you yourself are a part of it. A positive attitude does not put forward any conditions such as: "I will like you if you will be like that", it also excludes the attitude towards good and bad qualities. It is necessary to absorb all the social feelings of the client: not only positive - mature, but also negative - repulsive and frightening, protective and abnormal.

You should come to terms with the inconsistency of the client. In this respect, care for the client is manifested, the rejection of proprietary attitudes and attempts to satisfy the needs of the therapist himself. The client must be taken care of as an independent person, allowing him to live his life. "

A positive attitude towards clients is associated with the sincerity of the consultant in the advisory contact. Only by respecting clients, you can be honest with them and enter into confrontation.

Carkhuff and Berenson (1977) note that positive attitudes towards clients are built on the self-esteem of the counselor. If the therapist does not value his feelings and thoughts, neglects his past, it is difficult for him to respect the thoughts and feelings of another person.

A positive attitude is a very important part of the counseling process. George, Cristiani (1990) noted that cadets during training in counseling are often surprised at how they like each person who seeks help.

Most professionals are able to maintain a positive relationship with the most by different people- Consultative contact allows you to "step over" obstacles that are usually considered insurmountable. If in any case the consultant is unable to overcome himself, he is obliged to refer the client to a colleague (for the conditions of referral, see below).

Research shows that unconditional positive attitudes are complex; several independent factors can be distinguished in it (Lietaer, 1984; Barret-Lennard, 1986). Barret-Lennard (1986) points to two significant factors: the level of attitude and the unconditionality of the attitude. The level of attitude is defined as the general severity of the emotional response of one person to another. A positive attitude includes warmth, sympathy, caring, and appreciation of the client without the desire to control and manage.

If the level of attitude is associated with the manifestation of positive or negative feelings towards the client, then the unconditionality of the attitude implies the constancy of acceptance of the client, i.e. relationship without any "if". Unconditional means that the basic attitude of the consultant does not fluctuate depending on the emotional state and behavior of the client.

An unconditional positive attitude seems to be not only difficult, but also quite contradictory phenomenon.

S. Rogers considers a positive attitude towards the client one of the three conditions for successful therapy, but he did not sufficiently analyze the concept itself and the accompanying problems.

Critics argue that it is unrealistic to expect unconditional respect for clients in psychotherapy and counseling. The requirement of unconditional respect, in their opinion, conflicts with other requirements for a consultant (for example, sincerity).

The answer to this kind of criticism can be twofold. Firstly, even Berenson and Carkhuff in 1967 emphasized that a positive attitude is a theoretical concept, and from the point of view of everyday practice it is more correct to speak of an unconditional positive attitude in a variety of counseling situations.

Sometimes the attitude is conditional. Second, based on the statement of Lietaer (1984), one should distinguish between the client's subjective world and his external behavior. Unconditionality is aimed at accepting the feelings, fantasies, thoughts, desires of the client. Lietaer (1984) writes:

"The client in communication with me can be free and indulge in any experience; he should feel that I am open to his experience and not inclined to condemnation."

However, this does not mean, according to Lietaer, that any behavior is acceptable. In both the therapeutic relationship and beyond, it is possible that the counselor disapproves and rejects the client's behavior. In doing so, it is important to understand what is hidden behind the behavior that is not approved.

4. Skills of maintaining consultative contact

Non-verbal communication.

Gazda et al. (1984) categorized non-verbal responses into four basic modalities. This structuring helps to better understand and observe non-verbal behavior.

1. Non-verbal behavior and time structuring.

a. identification - slow response to partner messages;

b. priorities - the relative time to discuss specific topics.

2. Non-verbal communication using the body.

§ consideration of specific objects,

§ looking down,

§ consideration of the consultant with a defiant gaze,

§ "running" from object to object look,

Averting eyes from the consultant when he looks at the client,

§ covering eyes with hands,

§ the frequency of gaze delay near the consultant;

b. eyes - "sparkle" and glitter of the eyes, tears in the eyes, "widening of the eyes", the position of the eyebrows indicate anxiety of the client;

c. skin - the condition of the skin matters: pallor, redness, "goose bumps";

d. posture - can serve as an indicator of alertness or physical fatigue, indicate self-defense (for example, crossed arms or legs);

e. facial expression is perhaps the most important non-verbal "key" of counseling; Knapp (1973) writes: "The face has great potential for communication. It conveys an emotional state; reflects interpersonal attitudes; serves as a means of feedback for communication partners and, along with speech, is the main source of information transfer." In the interpretation of facial expressions, play a role: a frozen expression, wrinkled forehead, frowning eyebrows, a smile and laughter (F. Dostoevsky said: "The character of a person can be much better recognized by his laughter than from boring psychological research"); it is very difficult for a neurotic individual to laugh - he can scoff, be ironic or sarcastic, but he is not able to laugh sincerely, he has a sad face; the counselor should be able to read on the client's face joy, pain and fear, as well as how some feelings are masked by others;

f. hands and gestures - movements of hands and other parts of the body are often symbolic, can indicate something is wrong;

g. manipulating your body - manifests itself in biting nails, crunching joints, pulling out hair;

h. Monotonous behavior is often a sign of nervousness - this is stamping with feet, tapping with fingers, twisting objects and playing with buttons;

i. command signals - holding a finger to the lips (an invitation to be silent), pointing the finger, shrugging the shoulders, nodding the head, winking;

j. touch - may represent friendship or sexuality.

Speaking of non-verbal communication using the body, mention should be made of the four types of body movements identified by Elman and Friesen (1969; cited in Gelso, Fretz, 1992):

· Symbols that replace words, for example, waving a hand to signify goodbye;

· Accompanying demonstrations, which attempt to explain what is being said;

· Regulators that complement the flow of verbal interaction, for example: changing posture, head nodding, etc .;

· Adapters, i.e. body movements that do not have a conscious purposefulness, but often reflect thoughts and feelings, for example, lip biting, etc.

b. speech rate - fast, moderate, slow;

4. Non-verbal communication and structuring of the environment:

a. distance - not always aware of the approach to a partner or the desire to move away from him - indicates the expression of the desire to deepen the relationship;

b. furnishings and equipment of the room;

d. position in space - this modality is considered when discussing the therapeutic climate.

Non-verbal communication factors are largely responsible for the emotional tone of the conversation. When non-verbal symbols accompany our verbal statements, they often modify their meaning. For example, the sentence "Please come in" may have different meanings depending on non-verbal behavior. If we meet a client, looking at him, shake hands and say these words warmly and friendly - the meaning of the invitation is the same, but it is completely different, when we look somewhere to the side, not honoring the client with a glance, and we pronounce the invitation indifferently or, still worse, with a hint of irritation or displeasure.

Para-speech elements (tone of voice, spacing between words, accents, diction, pauses, repetitions, coughing, various "hmm", "aha", "mmm", "hoo " etc.).

Verbal communication

Client Hearing

Usually a conversation between two people is similar to verbal ping-pong - the interlocutors speak in turn. However, in counseling and psychotherapy, things are different, especially at the beginning of the conversation. Here, the counselor's verbal activity should be minimal so that the client can focus on revealing his problems and difficulties. The consultant should not so much talk as listen. Listening means expressing a genuine interest in the other person.

Listening, first of all, provides feedback to the thoughts and feelings of the client, encourages the client to further talk about his life, about its difficulties and problems. If the counselor is attentive, the client, according to Sox (1988), "replaces the period at the end of a sentence with a comma, and what appeared to be the end of the disclosure becomes a prelude to a deeper revelation."

William Osier (quoted in Sokh, 1988) liked to tell his students, "Listen to the patient, he tells you the diagnosis." There can be no better advice to a consultant. Rogers (1969) beautifully writes about the main therapeutic meaning of correct listening and the meaning of listening for the client:

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