Any opposition of positions, interests, views is called a confrontation.
In a general sense, confrontation is a clash of inconsistent tendencies in social systems. These may be class differences, friction in matters of ideological and political views, and so on. However, this term is also called one of the most complex and, at the same time, effective techniques in psychological counseling. Let's take a look at what techniques are still used in the consultative session, and how confrontation stands out among them.
Consultation with a psychologist is not just a "confession"
A person comes to a specialist with a specific problem that he himself has repeatedly tried to solve, turning to relatives, friends, perhaps even psychics. But the problem remains, and a great responsibility is assigned to the psychologist. He must unravel the tangle of complex thoughts, prejudices, get to the bottom of the truth and show it to the client. Therefore, a specialist in the field of the human soul should not only listen to the client, but be able to raise questions correctly, give a competent interpretation of what he heard, put forward hypotheses, sometimes evenconfront the client in order to show him the essence of his problem, so that the client himself sees and understands what the psychologist saw.
Techniques in psychological counseling
Let's briefly outline the main techniques used by the psychologist:
- Posting questions - they can be clarifying and suggestive.
- Reassurance and encouragement as a manifestation of empathy and acceptance of the client.
- Techniques for capturing the feelings and content of the client's story.
- Pauses of silence - give the client the opportunity to digest the information received, and the psychologist to think.
- Hypothesis and interpretation.
- Confrontation is a technique that requires special skills, confidence and a certain activity from a psychologist.
Confrontation in psychology and psychotherapy
When a client tells a psychologist about his problem, he cannot look at it from the outside. Since the client's story is a situation only on one side, the story inevitably contains contradictions in the judgments, statements, and feelings of a person. The client does not even notice this, then the consultant's task is to point out these contradictions to him. In general, confrontation is any reaction of the psychologist that is contrary to the behavior or judgments of the client. The consultant enters into a kind of confrontation with a person, a struggle in order to point out to him all his tricks, evasions, etc. Using these tricks, the client does not realize that he is deceiving himself; it's a kind of protectioninformation that may indicate that he is to blame for his problem. It should be noted that confrontation is not a way to humiliate a client, but a technique designed to help him. Confrontation is used in three ways:
- When it is required to draw the client's attention to the contradiction of his judgments, feelings, thoughts, behavior and intentions.
- When the client cannot see the situation objectively due to their own prejudices and needs.
- When a client unknowingly avoids discussing specific situations and issues.
Using confrontation in their work, the psychologist must understand his responsibility, possess the skills of fine work, and in no case use it as a punishment or a way to destroy the client's defense mechanisms.
