The Challenge of Confrontation in Counseling

Caption: Confrontation in Counseling
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            One of the more advanced challenging skills counselors must learn is confrontation (Young, 2017).  This skill allows counselors to identify inconsistencies in a client’s story.  Through confrontation, clients gain an awareness of discrepancies in their beliefs, behaviors, words, or nonverbal messages.  As a result, clients are educated to take responsibility for their actions or behaviors and ownership of their feelings.  In turn, clients usually become motivated to resolve inconsistencies in their lives.  Through confrontation, counselors are still working towards their overarching goal of empowering their clients.  In order to use a challenging skill successfully, counselors need to build rapport with their clients first and foster a strong therapeutic relationship.  Counselors also should engage in self-awareness of their own thoughts, behaviors, and actions before confronting their client in a therapeutic session (Young, 2017).    

            Confronting clients about their maladaptive behavior can be challenging for counselors (Leaman, 1978).  Before confronting a client, counselors must be aware of the intense emotional reactions their client may have in response to this process.  Accordingly, it is imperative for counselors to approach confrontation from a genuine, empathetic perspective.  Counselors need to be sensitive and compassionate towards their clients with confrontation.

            The use of confrontation is a way counselors can challenge their clients to examine maladaptive behavior in their life (Strong and Zeman, 2010).  Through this process, clients can experience growth and improvement.  Knowing that confrontation is a direct skill, it must be approached carefully and used with caution.  Foundational listening skills should be used in counseling sessions where counselors are pointing out discrepancies in a client’s behavior. 

References

Leaman, D. R. (1978). Confrontation in counseling. Personnel & Guidance Journal, 56(10), 630-633.

Strong, T. & Zeman, D. (2010). Dialogic considerations of confrontation as a counseling activity: An examination of Allen Ivey’s use of confronting as a microskill. Journal of Counseling and Development, 88, (3), 332-339.

Young, M. (2017). Learning the art of helping, 6^th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.