[humanser] Handling Silence in Therapy

[Carly Mihalakis]

Good morning, Alyssa,

         I don't have a particular background in psychology. It 
seems, though, that  you don't need to be apprehensive, should 
silence present as client's preferred space in which he wants to 
linger. Go listen to Simon-Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence." It kind of 
strikes me as a need to control goings-on pervading your sessions, 
though I remind you I am definitely untrained.
for today, Car  , At 03:38 AM 9/30/2014, Merry via humanser wrote:
>What a great discussion question!  In session with one particular teen there
>is a great deal of silence.  I sit quietly too for a few moments when I
>encounter silence with any of my clients.    Usually,  they begin speaking
>again, but with this one particular teen she does not.  I then ask her what
>she is feeling and then move forward and ask her what her thoughts are if
>she does not share her feelings.  These questions may not move us ahead but
>after sometime she becomes talkative again.
>
>While in graduate school we discussed this topic and while watching a video
>on this topic we saw a therapist working with a teen who was resistant.  She
>used a game to engage this teen.
>
>Thank you all who are responding and sharing.  These thoughts and ideas help
>me too.
>
>Thanks,
>Merry
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: humanser [mailto:humanser-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Alyssa
>Munsell via humanser
>Sent: Monday, September 29, 2014 7:27 PM
>To: humanser at nfbnet.org
>Subject: [humanser] Handling Silence in Therapy
>
>Hi everyone!
>
>
>
>I hope this message finds you all well. I have a question for those of you
>who practice mental health therapy. I've been doing therapy for my final
>year internship, and I am noticing that I'm not comfortable when there is a
>long period of silence between my clients and I. This is because I'm not
>able to see their body language well, and therefore, am having a hard time
>assessing whether or not the silence is productive. As you probably already
>know, silence can be powerful and necessary in therapy, so I don't want to
>diminish it. However, without being able to see non-verbal cues about what's
>going on with the person (e.g. they're just thinking or looking at me to say
>something), it is hard for me to know what to do. I was wondering what you
>all do in those types of situations.
>
>
>
>Any feedback would be immensely appreciated.
>
>
>
>Thanks so much,
>
>
>
>Alyssa
>
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