Mastering the Reflection Technique
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ScribdTranslationsMastering the Reflection Technique
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ScribdTranslationsThe Reflection Technique
Reflecting consists of summarizing or accentuating the manifest communication or
implicit of the person.
Reformulate (through words) what the client is trying to express.
communicate (verbal and non-verbal language), capturing thoughts and
feelings that are hidden behind the words of the person, and
returning them without any kind of interpretation or personal opinion.
Statistical technique allows the person to feel heard and
understood, encouraging him to continue speaking and delving deeper
without having to answer any kind of directive questions
(the therapist only accompanies the process), therefore, helps the
person focusing on their own experience and gathering aspects
not perceived until now.
It is important to reuse some words from the patient, prioritizing those that they have used.
more emotional load.
For example:
C. "I feel terrible, life is shit!"
Yeah, life isn't treating you well, is it?
There are three main areas to reflect on:
Contents.
Feelings.
Experience.
Reflection of contents: It consists of putting the contents into other words.
expressed, more or less literally, can be similar to paraphrasing;
it is useful for clarifying ideas, for example, when the consultant is
experiencing difficulty doing it.
Reflection of feelings: To verbally respond to the
person the feelings that were expressed directly. Help to the
person to focus on and take ownership of their feelings (affection,
pleasure, hostility, guilt or anxiety) and emotions (sadness, anger
[anger], love, fear, joy), more than in the contents of the discourse,
as well as reducing defenses.
Reflection of the experience: It implies perceiving beyond the
verbalized feelings and capturing implicit feelings
expressed by the consultant through their body language
non-verbal, the reflection of experience is of crucial importance for the
experiential listening.
The reflection technique brings remarkable benefits:
a) The therapist, by faithfully returning what the person has communicated; this
provides proof of having listened attentively and with interest and
also having understood the message correctly, on the other hand,
prevent the therapist from steering the interview in a specific direction.
b) The response of reflecting helps the consultant to concentrate on themselves.
experience and realizing aspects that I had not perceived until now.
c) When the person receives back correctly and accurately the
own feelings and contents that had been sent earlier by the
the person feels the emotional participation of the therapist.
d) Through reflection, the therapist is sure to make the person feel their
unconditional acceptance and avoiding making judgments and interpretations about it.
e) When the message is unclear or confusing for the therapist, the
reformulation allows to clarify this message, in the same way it offers to the
personal the opportunity to confront the new formulation, to clarify
the situation itself and possibly to correct or integrate the reformulation
done by the therapist.
f) By listening to their own communication back, the person has a way of
confront it with the vision that he himself has of reality and control or give in.
account of one's own perceptions.
g) The therapist may be constantly checking if the
whether their own interventions are being successful or not, that is to say if
they faithfully reflect the thoughts and mood of the
consultant, this is through the continuous verification of the
perception between both.
Modalities of the reflex response.
For Rogers, there are three main ways to carry out the reflex response:
1.- Reiteration: To support again the content expressed by the person.
without adding anything new, just making a small summary of what was said by the
person, an emphasis on some particular content expressed, or even
just nodding in agreement with what has been expressed.
It allows the person to realize that the therapist is listening to them, and
fosters a climate of trust and security, reducing the
possible defensive postures.
2.- Reflection of feelings: Gather the emotional component present or
inherent to the communication of the person and return it through a
clear verbalization.
Reiteration facilitates the process by giving the subject the feeling of being
perfectly understood and respected, as the reflection of
sentiments brought to light the intention, attitude or feeling
inherent in the words.
It is necessary to be precise and make the reflection at the moment it is recognized.
emotion or feeling, since, although it may reappear later, perhaps
do it with a different nuance, intensity, or meaning.
Este reflejo puede ser corregido por la persona, cuando estaniega o se
Defending often happens because one is experiencing distress or anxiety.
facing that experience and if we insist on dismantling their
defense mechanisms, we can end the atmosphere of security
necessary for the person to explore themselves, recognize themselves, and accept themselves.
3.- Elucidation or clarification: To gather and reflect certain elements to the person
that were not explicitly formulated and that may not be clear in their
appreciation, but they influence perception in some way
consultant.
The elucidation aims to highlight feelings and attitudes that are not
they do not derive directly from the words of the subject, but can be deduced
reasonably of the communication, its context, attitudes, positions
corporal, etc.
This modality may involve a bit of interpretation on the part of the
therapist, as it involves bringing to attention and reflecting elements that are not
were explicitly expressed, issues or emotions that possibly were not
are perceived by the consultant, but are indeed perceived by the therapist
starting from non-verbal language.
We could say that it is an interpretation arising from sharpness.
intellectual, the therapist's perception and sensitivity.