Active listening in counseling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Active listening in counseling - Essay Example Active listening encompasses purpose of listening during counseling,when interacting with people.It is listening to others views without distraction/ thinking about any other things.It defines the most structured way of listening and responding to others paying complete attention on the speaker. The behaviors and body language of the speaker is a matter of great concern. In the present article active listening is discussed in terms of counseling with its benefits and barriers.Active listening techniques are essential for facilitating the development of any relationship. In a clinical relationship, active listening is vital if the counselor is to effectively investigate and challenge the client. It is one of the primary ways that we are able to learn the client's story. Active listening implies incredible understanding towards the client's verbal and non-verbal messages. It involves "being with" the client, both physically and psychologically, in order to communicate empathy (Egan, 19 90).In the active -listening process, the counselor uses both verbal and non-verbal cues and signals to recognize and identify the client's core messages and cognitive patterns. The counselor continually asks the question, "What is it that the client wants me to understand" the tasks takes persistence and concentration. It is imperative that counselor must be aware of possible cultural biases. If the counselor's cultural filters are strong there is a greater likelihood of biased and distorted understanding. It is manifested that book learning can distort perception. It is important to keep academic theories in the background and the client in the foreground. It is therefore vital that this active listening must be reflective also for perfect counseling and psychotherapy (Fisher, D). Active listening encompass- Empathy is a wish of the listener and efforts taken to understand what the speaker is trying to explain. It is beyond any theoretical aspects. This empathetic listener has the potential to get inside the other's thoughts, feelings and perception (Fisher, D). The client must gain the confidence that the counselor is providing the feeling of verbal and nonverbal messages such as "I follow you," "I'm with you" or "I understand." It is therefore of great concern as empathy is the listener's effort to hear the other person profoundly, correctly, and non-judgmentally. An active listening sees that a listener is really trying to understand the meanings the client is explaining or expressing (Fisher). It is difficult to attain the state of complete empathy as there is a strong propensity to counsel, notify, concur, or disagree from our own point of view. Acceptance- is related to empathy, as it formulates respect for a person for simply being a person. It should not bear any kind of conditions. This ensures that the listener should circumvent expression of conformity or divergence about what the other person says. This approach persuades the client to be less defensive and to discover aspects of client and the circumstances that the client may otherwise keep hidden (Fisher). Congruence- is associated with ingenuousness, frankness, and genuineness an active listener represents. The congruent listener is in contact with self. A congruent listener admits to have feeling in case of anger or any kind of irritation. An active listener communicates what they feel and know, rather than trouncing behind a disguise. It is imperative to understand that honesty on the part of active listener tends to evoke candor in the speaker (Fisher). In some cases, if the listener becomes annoyed with the speaker then empathy and acceptance must be kept suspended till the things are sorted. Concreteness throws light on information as compared to fuzzy sweeping statements. It is observed that a person who has a problem will avoid painful feelings by being conceptual or uncongenial. If the client is expressing feelings in the form of expressions like "sometimes there are situations