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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Maxime on January 4, 2008, at 16:00:22
Hi again. :)
Why do therapists mirror behaviour etc.? What purpose does it serve? Is it beneficial?
Maxime
Posted by Phillipa on January 4, 2008, at 16:07:36
In reply to Er, what is the point of mirroring?, posted by Maxime on January 4, 2008, at 16:00:22
Maxie maybe they are unaware? Like I sometimes will do the same thing someone near me is doing? How does it make you feel? Good or bad? Or neutral? Phillipa ps haven't read the last thread yet so this was probably very premature of me.
Posted by Sigismund on January 4, 2008, at 16:12:31
In reply to Er, what is the point of mirroring?, posted by Maxime on January 4, 2008, at 16:00:22
Why do therapists mirror behaviour etc.?
Mine didn't. Is this William Rogers?What purpose does it serve?
It would annoy the hell out of me.Is it beneficial?
Probably not. I don't see why it should be.Actually with me I'd start talking like my T anyway, so if he/she started talking like me, maybe that would be cool and we could turn into each other.
Posted by Maxime on January 4, 2008, at 16:45:29
In reply to Re: Er, what is the point of mirroring? » Maxime, posted by Phillipa on January 4, 2008, at 16:07:36
No Phillipa, I read somewhere that it is used in psycho-therapy. I don't know who was the first to use it.
Maxime
Posted by Maxime on January 4, 2008, at 16:52:20
In reply to Er, what is the point of mirroring?, posted by Maxime on January 4, 2008, at 16:00:22
Okay, found stuff on mirroring. Heinz Kohut seems to be at the forefront of it (and my therapist mentioned Kohut a lot).
It's interesting.
Maxime
SOMATIC RESONANCE AND EMPATHYEmpathy was a term used by Heinz Kohut in the late 60's and early 70's, as he began to form his theories of Self Psychology. Although it took more than a decade to do so, he eventually broke away from the theories of classical psychoanalysis, largely because of his theories of empathy and mirroring as psychotherapeutic techniques. As many other theorists had done in the past when they modified psychoanalysis (Jung, Reich, Klein, Rank, etc.), his theories were not at first accepted in the psychoanalytic community.
Empathy was seen as "taking care of" the patient, coddling the patient, meeting the patient's demands, colluding with the patient and "being soft" on the patient. Nothing could be further from the truth. But it takes a sophisticated understanding of the term to define it properly.
Kohut first defined empathy as "vicarious introspection" (that sounds remarkably similar to somatic resonance). Later, he also defined it as a way of listening, a stance of inquiry, a mode of observation, which he considered to be neutral. Many people confused Kohut's empathic therapeutic milieu with the "unconditional positive regard" of Carl Rogers. However, Rogers' "active listening " more resembled Kohut's mirroring.
What Kohut discovered was that psychoanalysis didn't seem to help people who had pre-oedipal trauma (before 3 years of age). Since the psychopathology of the second half of the twentieth century is narcissistic personality disorder, not neurosis (as in Freud's time), patients could not take in or respond to interpretation, confrontation, explanation, etc. He found that when he could understand what the client was expressing and reflect that understanding through the technique of accurate mirroring, they would feel seen, heard and understood by him. This then, lead to their ability to later accept outside information from the therapist.
Empathy and mirroring by the parent is something an infant requires during the first three years of life in order to develop a coherent sense of self. If we are not understood and are improperly mirrored (perhaps by reflecting the needs of the parent, rather than those of the infant, the child will develop what Winnicott called the "false self". So empathy and mirroring are required to address these early developmental deficiencies.
Empathy is essential to the development of the human being. Lack of empathy produces a feeling in the child of not being human. I believe this injury is what we see in attachment disorder, and causes later acts of violence and crime, which are so prevalent in our society today.
Loss of the empathic surround (loss of any understanding) is the worst injury and causes the most suffering in later life. This is so, because the child looks into an empty mirror. And emptiness (loss of human contact), to an infant is devastating. The astronauts of Apollo 13, chose to return to earth and risk burning up in the Earth's atmosphere, rather than circle endlessly in empty space.
Being empathic as a therapist requires clarity, boundaries, maturity, trust, confidence and compassion. It also requires that the therapist have a well defined separate self, since empathy is impossible through merger. So the belief that empathy requires merger is radically opposed to the truth.
The concepts of somatic resonance (being in your own body), and counter transference (knowing the difference between what is yours and what is the other's) are directly related to the therapeutic stance of empathy and the therapeutic skill of mirroring.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kohut, H. (1971). The Analysis of the Self. A Systematic Approach to the
Psychoanalytic Treatment of Narcissistic Personality Disorders, New York:
Int. Univ. Press.Rogers, Carl, On Becoming A Person, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1961
Stern, Daniel, The Interpersonal Worlds Of The Infant, Basic Books, 1985
Winnicott, D.W. (1958). Collected Papers. Through Pediatrics to
Psycho-Analysis, London: Tavistock Publications; New York: Basic Books,
1958; London: Hogarth Press and the Inst. of Psa, 1975; London: Inst. of Psa and Karnac Books, 1992. Brunner/ Mazel, 1992
Posted by Dinah on January 4, 2008, at 17:09:06
In reply to Er, what is the point of mirroring?, posted by Maxime on January 4, 2008, at 16:00:22
It's not just psychotherapy that uses mirroring. It's also in the business manuals. Apparently it fosters subliminal feelings of attunement or something.
When it's well done I doubt if it's even consciously noticeable. If it's done like a mirror mime show, it's likely quite noticeable and not well received.
Posted by Phillipa on January 4, 2008, at 19:44:11
In reply to Re: Er, what is the point of mirroring? » Maxime, posted by Dinah on January 4, 2008, at 17:09:06
Thanks maybe this is why I have no sense of self????Phillipa
Posted by Poet on January 5, 2008, at 14:00:13
In reply to Er, what is the point of mirroring?, posted by Maxime on January 4, 2008, at 16:00:22
Hi Maxime,
I think my T did it to show me how uncommunicative and closed I am being. I told her to stop imitating me, so she hasn't done it in a long time. Now she when I cross my arms and legs tight she just says "you don't have to do that." Yes, I do.
Poet
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