Choosing The Right Reflection Pt 1.

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Episode Transcript

Linton (00:07):
Hi there, you future therapist.
Welcome to our licensure exampodcast.
I'm Dr.
Linton Hutchinson, and today,and this is Stacy's favorite
counseling phrase, we're goingto do a deep dive into something
that you're going to reallyfind helpful for your licensing
exam and honestly in yourpractice as well.

Stacy (00:28):
That's right, Linton.
We're going to look atdifferentiating between the
different kinds of reflectionsin counseling: reflection of
meaning, reflection of feeling,and reflection of content.

Linton (00:40):
Well, before we get started, let me tell you about
our previous three podcasts onneurodevelopmental disorders
with Hannah Selazar, anincredible therapist who also
does tutoring.
The podcast covered autismspectrum disorder, ADHD, and
specific learning disorders, allthree areas that you might need

(01:02):
to know for your licensing examand definitely for your
practice.
If you need some one-on-one,send Hannah an email at infoinfo
at thegoodneuron.com.
That's info atthegoodneuro.com.
And I'm sure she'll get you upthe speed.

(01:23):
And Stacy?

Stacy (01:24):
Yes, Lyndon.

Linton (01:26):
I've got a question for you today.

Stacy (01:28):
Oh boy.
Okay, I'm ready.

Linton (01:32):
How are you doing on your bookstory?

Stacy (01:35):
My book story?
I wish I had better news foryou, Lyndon.
I'm not doing well on my bookstory.

Linton (01:42):
Oh no.
What's going on?

Stacy (01:45):
I've hit a mental block, if you will.
How are you doing on your bookstory?

Linton (01:50):
My book story?
I'm done with my book story.

Stacy (01:54):
Oh, of course.
All right.
Let's just brag all about it,my homie.

Linton (02:00):
Okay.

Stacy (02:01):
Well, do we get a little teaser?

Linton (02:03):
Yeah, well, yeah, let me get that.
Hold on a second.
I'll see if I can pull it uphere.
I'm getting closer.
You ready?

Stacy (02:12):
Ready.
I'm ready.

Linton (02:14):
Did I ever tell you about Teddy?
I was used to hearing his namewhispered at my school.
Teddy.
Teddy Vanderbilt.

Stacy (02:22):
Is that real or are you just making that up?

Linton (02:24):
No, it's true.

Stacy (02:26):
Oh.
I forgot you went to school upnorth, didn't you?

Linton (02:28):
No, I didn't.
I went down here.

Stacy (02:31):
Vanderbilt?
Okay.
All right.

Linton (02:33):
It's true.
It's a true story.
So, anyways, we do a we do abook every year, and everyone
adds to that book.
And everyone does a littlestory.
And this year, the book wasabout what childhood experience
did you have that had aneverlasting effect on your life.

Stacy (02:54):
Yeah, they're cool because they they get you to
really think about, you know,stuff stuff maybe you haven't
thought about in a long, longtime.

Linton (03:02):
Well, when I was first going back to what we're talking
about, what were we talkingabout?

Stacy (03:08):
Back on the ranch.

Linton (03:10):
Oh, yeah, but Teddy.
No, really.
You know, when I was firststudying for my licensing exam
way back in the day, um, theyhad just come up with the DSM3.

Stacy (03:20):
Uh-huh.
Wait, Linton, I gotta stop youthere.
The DSM three?
I think you mean one.

Linton (03:25):
No, no, Stacy.
You know, cut me some slack.
Just because I might have somesilver hairs, um, I wasn't
around when they treated mentalillnesses with leeches.
Come on.

Stacy (03:38):
You know what?
That would actually make areally good podcast episode
about how they used to treatmental illness back in the day.

Linton (03:44):
Yeah, they actually did.
But, anyways, back to our topicagain.
Reflections is one of thoseareas that uh I thought that I
really had down pat until Dr.
Ballette, who was uh theprofessor at UCF at their
counseling program, would give apractice question, and suddenly
I wasn't so sure anymore.
So today we're gonna break thisdown in a way that's gonna make

(04:08):
it stick for you.

Stacy (04:10):
Yes.
Yes, we are.
So we're gonna start off withthe basics first.
So when you're sitting acrossfrom a client, you are
constantly making decisionsabout how to respond, right?
And these three types ofreflections that we're gonna
talk about content, feeling, andmeaning, they're like these
different tools in your basicattending skills kit.
So each one serves a reallyspecific purpose.

(04:33):
And when you use the right oneat the right time, that's really
what makes the differencebetween an okay session and a
really therapeutic moment.

Linton (04:42):
Yeah, okay, but you know, once again, these are all
the kind of skills that thatwhen you took your first
counseling course that you wentover and you knew what they
were, right?
So why are we going over thisnow, Stacy?

Stacy (04:59):
Well, how long has it been since you were in your very
first class in your counselingprogram, Linton?

Linton (05:06):
So you say this might be something that might show up on
a licensing exam for sure.

Stacy (05:11):
Yes, this is the basics.

Linton (05:13):
Okay, well, first up, let's get to it then.
Reflection of content, oranother way of phrasing it, is
paraphrasing.
It's basically when you restatethe facts and events that your
client has just shared with you.
It's pretty easy.
So you focus on the what of thestory, what happened, when it

(05:35):
happened, and who was involved.
It's it's sort of like being amirror for the factual
information of what they'retelling you.
And I know it sounds simple,but actually it's like really
important because it shows yourclient that you're tracking them
and you're following theirstory and you're paying
attention.

Stacy (05:54):
Yes.
And when you're thinking aboutwhether or not to use reflection
of content, you want to lookfor certain behavioral
indicators.
So your client might be givingyou these detailed narratives
about situations, and they'reusing really concrete
descriptive language.
And their body language isusually pretty neutral, maybe
steady eye contact, minimalgestures, composed facial

(06:16):
expressions.
They're really in like astorytelling mode, basically.
And this type of reflectionworks really well early in
sessions when you're stillbuilding that foundation of
understanding, or when yourclient's thoughts are really
scattered and you need to helpthem organize what they're
trying to communicate to you.

Linton (06:34):
No, the second type of reflection is reflection of
feeling.
So reflection of feeling iswhen you identify and verbalize
the emotions that your uh clientis talking to you about,
whether they're explicitlystating what they are or not.
Sometimes, in fact, oh, most ofthe time, clients don't

(06:55):
directly say, I'm angry or I'msad, but instead you need to
pick up on changes in theirvocal tone, their body language.
Maybe they're using emotionalwords indirectly.
So, like this is frustrating mewhen something happens.

Stacy (07:10):
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
And the behavioral indicatorshere are different from that
reflection of content.
So we we're going a littledeeper.

Linton (07:16):
Okay.

Stacy (07:17):
Watching for changes in vocal tone, pitch, or pace.
Maybe their energy level shiftswhen they start talking about
certain topics.
So physically, you might startto see facial expressions that
are showing some kind ofemotion, right?
Their eyebrows may be narrowed,their their fists are, you
know, clenched, and maybe yousee tears forming in their eyes.
Their posture might change.

(07:38):
So they might be slumping, youknow, when they're sad, getting
kind of rigid and and kind oftight when they're angry.
And sometimes you'll noticephysiological responses, like
maybe their face starts to turnred or they start to shake a
little bit.
And these are all telling youthat there's emotion present
that needs to be acknowledged.

Linton (07:55):
Right.
And the third type ofreflection, and this is the one
that I think is probably thetrickiest, is reflection of
meaning.
This is when you identify andarticulate uh the deeper
significance, basically theirvalues and beliefs or purpose
that underline what your clienthas gone through or is

(08:17):
experiencing.
In other words, it's not justabout what happened or how they
felt about it, but what it meansto them, to their core.
And that's probably the bestindicator of who they are as a
person and the problems thatthey're having.

Stacy (08:33):
Exactly.
And you're looking foropportunities to reflect
meaning.
You're going to be listeningfor value heavy language, words
like should or must orimportant.
And your client might bereferencing their like a kind of
life philosophy or a worldview,or they might be expressing
confusion about their lifedirection.

(08:54):
So sometimes they're askingthese big why questions.
Why does this matter so much tome?
Why can't I let this go?
And physically you might noticemore maybe like a thoughtful
expression, or or they startkind of slowing down, maybe
they're trying to take theirtime, or maybe they're, you
know, they're just kind of, Idon't know, just sort of in a

(09:15):
wondering kind of uh a mode.
They're not really sure.

Linton (09:18):
So, like on a licensing exam, if they described how the
client was acting, and then youhad to determine what kind of
reflection it was, how would youknow?

Stacy (09:33):
So, like what kind of reflection that you might use
with them?
Right.
So that's a good question.
And that's what we've you knowkind of been covering a little
bit here is that reflection,it's a little bit hierarchical.
So reflection of content isreally at the baseline, it's
pretty superficial stuff.
Reflection of feeling, like ifyou start to notice their
behavior is changing, that'swhen there's some feelings at

(09:56):
play, maybe, that you need tostart getting in tune with.

Linton (09:59):
And then when you start hearing, when you're really
listening to them and you starthearing things that are more
relate to their values, uh-huh,more thoughtful expressions or
there's they slow down withtheir speech.
So then that would give you aclue to what that answer to that
question was, right?

Stacy (10:15):
So keep practicing, keep observing, trust yourself,
you've got this.
And thanks for joining us inthis episode on reflections and
therapy.
And we'll catch you next weekwhen we explore another topic
and find out if Linton hasrecovered from that extra help
in a rassabi.

Linton (10:33):
The wasabi's still working on me there, but until
next time, try to remember it'sin there.