Christine King 23rd November 2011
WHAT IMPACT HAS THE RELATIONAL APPROACH, AS DESCRIBED IN ‘BEYOND EMPATHY’ AND MEARNS AND COOPER’S ‘WORKING AT RELATIONAL DEPTH’, HAD ON YOUR CLIENT WORK. ILLUSTRATE YOUR ANSWER WITH REFERENCE TO A SINGLE SESSION WITH A CLIENT.
Introduction
This essay will be looking at the importance of relational depth and further more I will attempt to demonstrate my growing awareness of my relationship with my clients and how it has impacted on my client work.
What is Relational depth?
Relational Depth comes from the book entitled ‘Working at Relational Depth in Counselling and Psychotherapy’ (2005), Dave Mearns and Mick Cooper. ‘Such an
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In this session I trusted my client to be in control of the pace and where she wanted to go (Rogers 1959)
Also I have an awareness of the B,A,C,P framework I need to make sure I avoid psychological harm towards my client. (non- Maleficence)
Mearns and Cooper are in agreement that clients need to lead the way, they state on (p 113) we are meeting our needs rather than our client’s if we are trying to do something to them.
Relational depth within different therapeutic models.
Yalom, explains how relationship problems display themselves in the therapy room, feelings are brought into the here and now.
Whether we are from different cultures or religions or if we look at the behaviour of animals we all like to be connected socially and feel accepted in society. (Yalom)
If we look at Maslow Hierarchy needs, he looks at human needs he believed that love and belonging are very important to our self- esteem. If these needs are not met we may not meet self- actualization. (Milliken & Honeycutt)
John Bowlby developed the theory of attachment he researched the significance of the relationship between a mother and her child. His theory shows that this bond
us. Rogers puts forward the view that the client held in the therapeutic relationship, when given the
Evans, G. ( 2007 ) Counselling skills for dummies. West Sussex. John Wiley and Sons LTD
Relator – Building strong customer relationships has helped me to overachieve my professional goals. Understanding and working with a customer on a project to achieve a common objective has been a practice that has strengthened my negotiation and empathy skills in my professional career.
Therapists basically explore avoidances, thoughts, feelings, relationships and life experiences. A patient sometimes may be aware of his condition but not be able to escape or explain it. Through the analysis of a patient’s early experiences of attachment figures and how they have affect him, he will be able to free himself from the bonds of past. To accomplish that, the psychodynamic therapy, focuses on interpersonal relations, on the affect and expression of emotions helping the patients through discussion to describe feelings which are troubling them and they do not recognise. Patients usually attempt to avoid distressing thoughts and feelings. At some cases, they present avoidance, defence and resistance by missing sessions or change the topic when certain ides arise. They also view the therapist with suspicion because they may have feelings of disapproval, rejection or even abandonment. This kind of therapy based on research has shown that leads to on-going change, even after it has ended.(Jonathan Shedler, American Psychologists;University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine; February–March 2010)
It sees the client’s complaints as revealing dysfunctional interaction patterns, which create problematic relations in the different settings and times. It also offers flexible ideas and models that match the needs of the clients and their specific sociocultural aspects, which has a significant influence on the client’s mental state. Systemically, it is crucial for these factors to be considered, in order to find new and effective ways of communication in the different settings, which lead to a functional family or any other similar systems and contexts of the
Similarity between the two approaches, drama and relational, both use the therapist in an intimate fashion to build trust. Compared to traditional methods of having the therapist convey a role of a silent partner, the therapist takes on a varied active style in which the client
For the purpose of this paper, I will showcase an interaction I have had recently with my resource family regarding their chronic illness. We discussed many aspects of their illness, such as how it impacts their life, how it has affected their growth and development, and the impacts of their family. I will relate this conversation to the multiple relational capacity skills we have learnt in class thus far. Relational Capacities Model In order to fully relate to a client, it is important to acknowledge your own relational capacities first.
To avoid possible misunderstandings, the research organization must make clear to its clients in advance of conducting research:
Though I like to think that I won’t have any issues concerning boundaries like the ones mentioned in the text such as duel relationships, or attraction for or from the client, I know that this can happen. I would love to say that these will not be an issue for me but then who knows what the future holds. I would like to think that I
Engagements should only be undertaken when the value to the client was expected to exceed the firm's fees.
In chapter 5 reading I was overwhelm by the amount of information provide. However, I was able to find various topic that caught my attention. For example “the conflicted emotions that accompany their problems”. In regards to this, it made me think about my first conversation with my dyad partner, about her conflicted emotion towards her problems with communicating with loved ones. Therefore, this made me further analyze others behaviors. By doing this, it will allow me to formulate a better understanding of client’s problems and how this will open my eyes to better understand why these feeling may arise within them. It amazes me how something as simple as noticing clients conflicted emotions can allow there to be an opening for more in depth conversation with them.
The process of corrective emotional experience involves: A safe therapeutic relationship Therapist empathy. Respond in a different way than the client
Social penetration theory suggested that relational development is a process (Altman & Taylor, 1973; Miller K. , 2005). Four stages are defined in the original initiation of the theory according to Altman and Taylor’s book:
Furthermore, discussing the basic needs of human beings also helps me understand the client’s functioning because the client is struggling with
One of her aims in the study is to address the lack of what is meant by “relational” since there are not many studies concerning the similarities and differences between the variations about “the relational”. Another point that was stated which needs to be addressed was who of “the relations”, whys of it, and the basis of relational sensitivity.