How to Use Silence in Counseling Sessions? (7 Best Benefits)
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OptimistMinds
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Author bio
The Optimistminds editorial team is made up of psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals. Each article is written by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter. The article then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.
In this article, we will be discussing the topic: silence in counseling. Silence is an important tool in the process of counseling and allows the therapist and client to be aware of the process of counseling in-depth and process the emotional dynamics associated with it. We will be exploring the meaning, importance, benefits to both clients and therapists, cultural differences in the usage of the skill, and the relevance of body language in silence.
Silence in counseling
Silence in counseling is one of the most beautiful and unique tools imbibed in the process by the therapist. Silence helps the client to talk about their experiences without any kind of interruption. It allows them to resonate with their flow of thoughts and help themselves to process their emotions during the sessions.
When the therapist practices silence, it enables the clients to feel more confident and empowered to talk about their deepest feelings and issues, which otherwise might have not been discussed. It also provides the clients with ample space to gain awareness, acknowledge, and process their ongoing feelings, the swirl of thoughts, and their mental and physical reactions towards them.
Silence is a hint for the client to take up their own space, time, and resources to face their difficulties and issues, one at a time, with the required guidance from the counselor.
The control goes to the client
most cultures have been wired to be uncomfortable in situations of silence. They see it as gaps to be filled and the new age psychotherapists, counselors, and psychologists face this problem as well. They try to take the responsibility of filling up the gaps that emerge during counseling sessions. However, during such situations, we can trust the client to take the lead and continue at their own pace, without any distractions from the counselor’s side.
In other words, the control for taking the session forward is completely placed in the client’s hands. The content, pace, and objectives of each session are decided by the client according to their needs and expectations from counseling sessions and the counselor.
For clients starting counseling for the first time, these instances of silence can come across as awkward and thought-provoking, leading them to think that there is something wrong. However, it is the duty of the counselor to understand the client’s lack of comfort with silence and tactfully help them get accustomed to it.
Silence serves an important role in the growth and smooth understanding of the client throughout the process of counseling.
Silence in counseling – advantages to counselors
Holding client responsible for their growth
When the counselor becomes silent for some time, combined with a warm smile, it allows the client to feel seen and be aware of their importance in the room. These instances of silence let them realize that they too are highly and majorly responsible for processing and making sense of their underlying issues and associated emotions.
Therefore, if the client expects the counselor to always give advice, answers, and probable explanations, it will help them look beyond their immediate needs and understand that counselors are not ones who’s got solutions for all their problems. This holds similarity with the core condition of unconditional positive regard of Carl Roger’s humanistic theory.
The focus of attention on the client
When maintaining silence and not interrupting, the counselor helps the client feel that their presence and their concerns are being valued and given utmost importance. So instead of jumping into discussions or providing their perspectives, the counselor can maintain the focus on the client and give them ample time to openly communicate about their issues and genuine worries, before the counselor intervenes
Buys time for the counselor
Silence helps the counselor to recollect their thoughts and to process them quickly before catching up on what the client is about to say next. Sometimes, when the client keeps taking, the counselor finds it difficult to keep up with the pace and understand the context of things. In such situations, silence helps the counselor to mentally process the information before entering the stage of paraphrasing and reflection.
Enables transition
Sometimes, when the counselor wants to acknowledge the ending of a particular discussion, the counselor can use silence. The silence is a respectful form of conveying to the client that they have reached a natural end on a particular topic of discussion. This also enables the client to move forward and focus on their other relevant issues.
Silence in counseling – advantages to the client
Making relevant connections
A period of silence helps the client to find time to process their emotions and the associated bodily sensations, and what it means to them genuinely. Sometimes, the client will need some time to understand the nature of their emotions concerning certain life events or past experiences and to find the right kind of words.
In such situations, silence front the counselor’s side helps the client to buy time and make relevant connections between words, images, and feelings. This may be especially useful and important for those clients who are new to the concept of counseling. For instance, a client might be aware of the physical sensation of breathlessness when they start thinking about abandonment. However, they might need some time to find the right kind of words to describe the exact feeling.
Flow of feelings
Silence provides the client with space and time for allowing their emotions to develop and be nurtured in the right way. When the client receives this kind of time, it allows them to slowly move from rigidity to fluidity and they will find moving from moment to moment, with their feelings and thoughts, an easy process. It creates a space within their mental realm to understand and process new perspectives and explore new feelings and emotions that might emerge during the time of silence.
Complete engagement
When the client is expressing emotions that were a heavy burden to them, they might break down and will need some time to pass through the phase. Silence, during such crucial moments, helps the clients to completely let down their guard, and let their emotions flow out, without restraining themselves. These emotions might have been suppressed earlier and will need sufficient time to be let out completely and in a relieving manner.
Silence allows for such intense emotions to be felt fully and truly processed.
Body language in silence
Silence is not just about remaining quiet and being physically present with the client. It involves much more. When in silence, the counselor must be completely attentive to the client’s body language and tone of voice. There must exist a psychological connection between the client and therapist during the time of silence. This allows the counselor to keenly observe and emotionally be with the client.
This kind of communication holds equal importance and meaning as the one conveyed through the use of words.
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Conclusion
In this article, we discussed the topic: silence in counseling. We explored the meaning, nature, and importance of silence in counseling, along with its benefits to the counselor and the client, in the counseling sessions. We also looked at the relevance of paying attention to the body language of the client, when in silence.
FAQs: silence in counseling
What is the use of silence?
Silence can be considered to be a powerful and influential coaching skill. It enables you to enhance your listening and attending skills. Especially, if you are a coach, the tool of meaningful silence will help you to listen more effectively. It is a skill that requires lots of practice and understanding. Silence can be perceived as uncomfortable, unnecessary, and irritating. However, you need to cultivate patience, sit with silence, and realize its value and potential as a powerful tool.
Sometimes silence could indicate that we have run out of things to speak about or discuss. However, in such situations, keep silent and observe your inner monologue and where it leads you, without uttering anything.
Why are endings important in counseling?
Ending therapy is indicative of a new phase of life for the client. Hence, it is important to have a good ending for the counseling sessions. It means the client is going out with a renewed set of thoughts, emotions, perspectives, and better coping mechanisms. the goals of the counseling process must also be met accurately by the end of the sessions.
The client must be able to openly discuss their progress and growth as a person, with the therapist/counselor, and how to go about them in the future, independently. It enables the counselors too, to evaluate their input, efforts, ability to help the client grow, and reach a mutual understanding with the client.
Why is silence so powerful?
Silence is a powerful and relevant tool because it speaks louder than words as it involves the usage of non-verbal language. This usage of non-verbal communication allows you to deeply connect with people, and to understand what exactly they are going through. It helps you to express your sincere feelings and unfiltered thoughts and in turn, helps in building better interpersonal relationships. It is a form of respect and acknowledgment of one’s feelings and emotional state.
Why do we need silence sometimes?
The human mind often keeps chattering and this mental chatter never ends, which leads to mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion. This might go unnoticed until the signs start showing up. Therefore, we need silence. It does play its role in times of need. It allows us to restore our replenished energy and reflect on our thoughts and emotions.
That quiet and uninterrupted silence is much prized and relevant in present times when we are burdened with different forms of stress of the capitalistic world. This is to simply rest and renew, and be aware of what’s really important to you.
What does the first counseling session look like?
The first counseling session is like an icebreaker session. It helps you to know your therapist as a beginner step and evaluate if they might fit your needs, in the future. You can also slowly start talking about the issues concerning you in the first session. You can state the aim of coming for counseling and what exactly you might be expecting at the moment. It provides you with space to respectfully and comfortably share your distressing thoughts that you find comfortable sharing.
The first session lets the counselor know about the client and a little bit about their concerning issues. With further sessions, the therapist starts to gain an idea about the personality of the client.
What does silence do to the brain?
Silence helps in regenerating the brain cells. Researchers have been able to find out, through concerned studies, that two hours of complete silence helps the brain to develop new cells in the area of the hippocampus. The hippocampus is the key brain area that is responsible for the control and proper regulation of memory, learning, and emotion.
References
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