阅读理解
The goings-on in the consulting room have become more transparent (透明的) recently. Thank goodness. We know
more than the lines supplied by the movies in which the therapist knows all and
gives wisdom to those who, sitting on a couch, consult with them. Therapists
are interested in how the individual, the couple or the family experiences and
understands their difficulties. That has to be a starting place. We can be of
value if our first port of call is to listen, to gradually feel ourselves into
the shoes of the other, to absorb the feelings that are being conveyed and to
think and then to say some words.
The thinking and talking that I do inside the consulting
room is at odds with many features of ordinary conversation. Not that it is
mysterious, but it isn't concerned with traditional ways of sharing or
identifying. The therapist makes patterns and theorizes, but they are also
reflecting on the words that are spoken, how they are delivered and how the
words, once spoken, affect the speaker and the therapist themselves.
Words can give voice to previously unknown feelings and
thoughts. That's why it's called the talking cure. But just as words reveal so,
too, can they obscure, and this gets us to the listening and feeling
part of the therapy. Whatever and however the words are delivered, they will
have an impact on me as a therapist. I might feel hopeless, I might feel
energized, I might feel pushed away, I might feel demanded of, I might feel
pulled to find solutions.
The influence of the other is what makes any relationship
possible or impossible. A therapist is trained to reflect on how those who
consult with them affect them. As I try to step into the shoes of the other and
then out again, my effort is to hold both those experiences, plus an awareness
of my ease or discomfort with what I encounter in the relationship.
Feelings are the bread and butter of our work in the
consulting room. They inform or modify our ideas and they enable us to find an
emotional bridge to what can so hurt for the people we are working with. Along
with the more commonly thought-about theories and ideas we have about the
psyche, they are an essential part of the therapist's toolkit, certainly for
me. The talking cure means talking, yes. It also means the therapist is
listening, thinking and feeling.