- The first way is being attentive; the professional must be attentive and avoids all kinds of distractions such as mobile phone calls or personal concerns. He must focus complete attention on the client.
- The second thing is non-verbal communication; along with verbal communication, non-verbal communication is essential during a session. Non-verbal communication involves body posture, eye contact, body movements, facial expressions, and head nodding. The psychologist must be facing the client with open posture without any barrier between the psychologist and the client, e.g., table or desk.
- The third way is to listen, your client actively and carefully, allowing the client to answer and express himself without continuous interruption.
- The fourth principle is to make sure that the psychologist is non-judgmental and non-critical towards his client. While talking to the client, he must not use such words or sentences that make the client think that the psychologist is judging him; if he feels this way, he will not open up to a psychologist about his issue.
- Paraphrasing is the rephrasing the content of what is being said
- Reflection means rephrasing the feelings of what is being said
- Summarization involves both paraphrasing and reflection in attempting to pull together several points into a coherent brief review of the message
- Clarification includes asking questions to ensure that the message is being fully understood
The clinical psychologist is a part of
clinical psychology that provides a range of psychological services to welfare
human beings. The ways clinical psychologist serves include; assessment,
diagnosis, intervention plan, and treatment to the patients suffering from
mental disturbance and have a psychological disorder. Many individuals have the degree of a clinical
psychologist, but to work as an effective clinical psychologist following
characteristics are required:
Rapport building
As the client is not
familiar with the psychologist, he meets the psychologist for the first time;
it is not easy for an individual to do sharing with any stranger. Therefore,
before initiating an interview, it is significant to develop rapport between
the psychologist and the client. Rapport creates a comfortable working
relationship between the psychologist and the client. A psychologist tries to
develop an atmosphere enriched with positivity, trust, acceptance, respect, and
help. Four general principles can contribute to developing rapport:
Congruence
Congruence
is a vital attribute of a psychologist, and it means that the psychologist is
genuine, open, authentic, and integrated when talking with the client. It
allows the psychologist to show his geniuses to the client, so the client can
also get comfortable and genuine with the psychologist.
For example,
Client: There is no
understanding exists between my parents and me. They cannot understand my point
of view; whenever I come up with an opinion, they think I am disrespecting
them. They don’t know that giving your idea does not mean that someone is
disrespecting them.
In this situation, the psychologist can use congruence by
replying in this way
Psychologist: I can
understand what you are saying. Such types of communication gaps can sometimes
present between parents and children. Once, I also think this way when I was a
teenager; at that time, I also thought that my parents are difficult, and they
cannot understand what I am telling them and how I felt.
Non-judgmental
Being
non-judgmental while talking to the client is very important. The skill of
listening to others without making significant judgments on their doings or
thoughts is a critical characteristic of the clinical psychologist. If a
psychologist is non-judgmental, it will be convenient for his client; the
client will be at more ease and share all his problems despite their nature.
Being non-judgmental also means that the psychologist avoids all sort of discrimination; he will not consider that the patient is from high socioeconomic status or low socioeconomic status, he is sweeper or the CEO of a company, he is from culture or any different culture, and he will provide services beyond such discrimination. A clinical psychologist does not criticize the client if they do or say something with which the psychologist disagrees; he also avoids such judgments.
Unconditional Positive Regard
Unconditional
positive regard means accepting someone as they are. The psychologist may not
accept some of the client's actions, but he does approve the client. It refers
to the genuine care of the psychologist for his client. According to research
conducted by Rogers (1977), the greater the degree of prizing, caring,
accepting, and generously valuing the client, the greater the chance that the
therapy will bring out positive outcomes.
Accurate empathetic understanding
Accurate empathetic
understanding means putting yourself in someone's shoes. The
psychologist's ability to comprehend sensitively and accurately the client's
feelings and experience but not sympathetically is termed as accurate
empathetic understanding. Another skill that will be helpful for the therapist
to understand his client is empathic understanding. Being empathetic is easy to
understand how others feel the same as when you can relate your story with
others' story it is easy to understand.
Empathetic understanding
means that the psychologist will understand the client's feelings as if they
were his own without becoming lost in those feelings (Corey, 1986). The psychologist
must only work with empathy, not with sympathy because if sympathy gets involved,
it will negatively influence the working and working relationship.
Effective listening skills
Effective
listening skill is a psychologist's gadget that helps him probe and understands
his client. If a psychologist has effective listening skills, it will help him understand
his client's feelings and comprehend what his client is saying, and it will
also help to generate more questions from what is being said by the client. An
effective clinical psychologist must learn to use and develop active listening
skills, which include:
Effective communication skills
The knowledge one's
having is not as fruitful as it should be if he is unable to communicate it
with others. The clinical psychologist must be versatile when communicating
with others or his client. He must be aware of the individual with whom he is
interacting with. To make an interview successful, effective communication is
required. The language used by the psychologist must be appropriate according
to the client. The psychologist makes sure that the client understands him
well; the language must be according to the client as the client can be a young
child, adult, uneducated, or highly educated adult. The psychologist avoids the
use of jargon words and speaks in general terms that can be
easily understood. The psychologist tries to fully understand what the client
is trying to communicate and asks for clarification when he is not sure.
Observation of behavior
A psychologist needs to
pay attention to what his client's saying, but the psychologist also pays
attention to what is not being said. The psychologist pays attention to what is
being said during a clinical interview and how it is being said. How the client
is being dressed up and how he is behaving or doing movements. It may provide
further insight into the nature of the client's difficulties.
Asking the Right question
To
develop a strong understanding of the problem and human behavior, it is
essential to ask the right question. Based on the right question, the
psychologist can reach the core reason for the problem. Questions that are
usually asked are about the frequency, duration, severity, and client's
perception of the current problem's etiology. During a session, the
psychologist also makes a comprehensive examination of the psychological,
biological, and social factors linked with the problem.
Concern towards Medical wellbeing/history
A good psychologist should be aware of his client's medical
wellbeing and history. When a client comes to him, he must check his medical
history to avoid medical issues. If a psychologist senses that the current
issue is related to some medical reason, he must guide the client to avoid any
undesirable consequences.
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