reasons for paraphrasing in counselling

Paraphrasing in Counselling

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In essence, paraphrasing is a micro skill that allows counselors to create an authentic bond with their clients  Together with encouraging and summarizing, paraphrasing plays a crucial role in therapeutic communication, making the client feel understood and listened to.  In other words, paraphrasing in counseling is what makes the client say, “ Finally, someone who understands what I’m going through.” Without this essential ingredient, counseling sessions would be nothing more than dull and impersonal exchanges of ideas.

What is the difference between reflecting and paraphrasing in Counseling?

Paraphrasing and reflecting are close synonyms for most people, both playing a crucial role in any form of communication.

Although paraphrasing and reflecting are fundamental counseling communication skills [1], these two processes can have slightly different connotations in a therapeutic context.

In essence, reflecting is like putting a mirror in front of your clients, helping them gain a better sense of the thoughts, emotions, and behaviors they experienced in a situation that has meaning for them.

Of course, this does not mean you have to parrot their message; simply highlight the link between different ideas and emotions and how one influences the other.

When reflecting, it is vital to match the client’s tone and even body language so that he/she knows that you’ve received the message and the feelings that accompany his/her story.

On the other hand, paraphrasing is about capturing the essence of their story with a brief statement that emphasizes the underlying emotional vibe.

This technique is particularly useful when clients know how ideas and emotions can merge to create a subjective experience, but you want them to feel understood and listened to.

In a way, we could argue that paraphrasing is a brief version of reflecting.

Let’s look at a brief example of paraphrasing in counseling:

Client: I had a huge fight with Andrew last night. At some point, he stormed out and didn’t come back ‘til morning. I tried calling him all night, but his phone was switched off. I was worried sick and thought he did something stupid. This whole thing was like a nightmare that I could not wake up from.

Therapist : It seems this unpleasant event has put you through a lot of fear and anxiety.

Now let’s take a look at reflecting:

Therapist : I can only imagine how terrifying it must have felt to see your partner storm out after a huge fight without telling you where he is going or when he’ll be back.

As you can see, both processes require active listening. But while paraphrasing is a short statement that highlights the emotional tone of the situation, a reflective response captures “the vibe” of the story, along with other essential details.

How do you paraphrase?

• Start by listening

Whether the purpose is to paraphrase or reflect, listening is always the first step.

Through active listening, counselors gain a better sense of what their clients have experienced in a particular situation. Active listening means looking beyond the surface and trying to connect with the client on an emotional level.

To achieve this level of emotional depth, counselors listen with both their ears and their hearts. That means putting themselves in their clients’ shoes and zeroing in on the emotional aspect of the experience.

• Focus on feelings and thoughts rather than circumstances

When we listen to another person’s story, the most visible aspects are related to the actual events that he or she has gone through.

But details like names, dates, locations, or other circumstantial issues are less relevant than how the person interpreted and consequently felt in a particular situation.

When it comes to paraphrasing, counselors are trained to look beyond circumstances and identify why a client has chosen to talk about a particular event.

In almost every case, the reason is a set of emotional experiences.

• Capture the essence of the message

Although people can experience a wide range of emotions in a given situation or context, there’s always an underlying feeling that defines how they react.

That underlying emotional vibe is the “golden nugget” that counselors are looking to capture and express through paraphrasing.

If done right, paraphrasing in counseling creates an emotional bridge that sets the foundation for authentic and meaningful interactions. This will encourage clients to open up and share their struggles.

• Offer a brief version of what has been said

The last step is providing a concise version that highlights the emotional tone of the story.

Once this message reaches the client, it creates a sense of understanding that builds trust and authentic connection.

Long story short, paraphrasing is a valuable tool for cultivating empathy and facilitating therapeutic change.

How does paraphrasing help in communication?

Cultivating clarity (on both sides).

Any form of communication, whether it’s a therapeutic process, a negotiation, or a casual chat between friends, involves exchanging ideas.

And when people exchange ideas and opinions, there’s always the risk of confusion and misunderstanding.

By paraphrasing what the other person has shared, not only that you cultivate empathy, but you also let him/her know that the message has been received and understood correctly.

Research indicates that paraphrasing in counseling helps clients clarify their issues. [2] The more clients understand the inner-workings of their problems, the better they can adjust their coping strategies.

In a nutshell, paraphrasing eliminates ambiguity and paves the way for clarity.

Facilitating emotional regulation

One of the main functions of paraphrasing is to build empathy between two or more people engaged in conversation.

But the effects of paraphrasing on emotions extend way beyond empathy and understanding.

One study revealed that empathic paraphrasing facilitates extrinsic emotional regulation. [3] People who receive empathy through paraphrasing feel understood, and that prompts them to engage in a more intense emotional regulation process.

What starts as extrinsic emotional regulation slowly becomes intrinsic emotional regulation. This is the reason why someone who’s going through a rough patch can feel better by merely talking to a person who listens in an empathic manner and doesn’t necessarily hand out solutions or practical advice.

Paraphrasing can be a vital skill in heated arguments where two people have opposing views that result in emotional turmoil.

If one of them manages to exercise restraint over their intense emotional reactions and tries to paraphrase what the other shares, it could change the whole dynamic of the conversation.

What is the role of paraphrasing in listening?

As we discussed throughout this article, paraphrasing is one of the critical aspects of active listening.

It’s what turns a passive individual who listens only to have something to say when it’s his/her turn to speak into an active listener who understands and resonates on an emotional level.

Furthermore, paraphrasing is a means by which we provide valuable feedback on the topic of discussion, keeping the conversation alive.

It is also the tool that allows therapists to build safe spaces where clients feel comfortable enough to unburden their souls by sharing painful experiences and gaining clarity.

To sum up, paraphrasing in counseling is a vital micro skill that creates an authentic connection, providing clients with the opportunity to experience a sense of understanding.

Knowing there is someone who resonates with your emotional struggles makes your problems seem less burdensome.

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How Can Paraphrasing Be Used in Counseling? (3+ Main Indications)

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The Optimistminds editorial team is made up of psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals. Each article is written by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter.  The article then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.

In this article, we will be discussing the topic: paraphrasing in counseling, which is one of the main counseling skills of a counselor. We will be looking at nature, importance, and the way of using this skill in the process of counseling. 

Paraphrasing in counseling

Paraphrasing refers to one of the counseling skills which holds paramount importance in the process of counseling. It is that skill which the counselor uses to repeat what the client has said at the present moment using fewer words and without any intention of changing the meaning of what the client conveyed through his words. 

The main intention behind paraphrasing is to feedback on the essence of what the person has just said. Paraphrasing is useful in the following situations:

• When you want to let the client know that you are actively listening and understanding the information provided by the client
• When you want to clear and clarify doubts concerning confusing content, given by the client.
• When you want to highlight issues that need more explanation and precision
• When you want to evaluate the accuracy of your perceptions as a counselor. 

Though paraphrasing looks quite simple and quick, it demands a sufficient amount of concentration and articulation skills from the side of the counselor. It is more difficult than it appears to be. While paraphrasing the words of the client, they should not end up feeling interrupted or misunderstood, in the process. The paraphrase should be kept, short, precise, and simple. There must be no unwanted complications or assumptions involved in it.

Although, if the paraphrase is kept too short, it would make the client feel confused and sometimes, dejected for being interrupted in between. Hence, paraphrasing must be initiated and put into action in a non-complex and understanding manner. It is very important to practice paraphrases that come in various lengths, variations of content, or emphasis of the wording. This will help you to understand what works best for your intentions and goals, as a counselor.

It is also important to understand that over-reliance on paraphrasing to the point of avoidance of reflection is indicative of discomfort on the part of the counselor, for encouraging the client to be emotionally open and expressive. 

Emphasis on essence

The intention of a counselor, when using paraphrases must be to reveal the essence of the client’s words. The client should get clarity, in terms of the paraphrases you use to communicate with them and must not feel confused or at loss for words once they’ve heard you out. They must be able to smoothly continue with their communication and not be intimidated or taken aback by your choice of words. 

Growth of empathy

Paraphrasing in counseling has a huge impact on the relationship between the therapist and the client. First ad foremost, it aids both the therapist and client to feel heard and understood. This forms the foundation for the client-therapist relationship. The client feels more free and brave to share their innermost and private experiences with the therapist. In turn, the therapist actively listens to the client and provide genuine feedback to the client on the most relevant parts of the client’s information using paraphrasing. 

If paraphrasing is carried out accurately and without the creation of confusion, it helps the client in recognizing the effort of the therapist and the amount of empathy the therapist holds for their state of mind. Hence, paraphrasing, in one way, helps in building the empathetic relationship between the client and the therapist which is important as empathy is not a one-way transaction. 

This is because it is important for the client to feel the empathy that is being conveyed by the counselor. Empathy is not just the counselor being able to put themselves in the client’s state of mind and understand their issues. It also involves the client receiving the empathetic energy that is being conveyed through the words and actions of the counselor.

A form of acknowledgment 

Paraphrasing is a form of acknowledgment that is provided by the counselor. This is done by mindfully restating the words of the client, conveying empathy, acceptance, and genuineness. A therapist’s role does not comprise of reading the minds of the clients or assuming their emotional states. Hence, it is very essential to learn the art of rephrasing the client’s words briefly and acknowledge them with honesty. 

By engaging in paraphrasing, you are letting the client know that you are understanding what they are trying to convey and you are ready to be corrected in case of any misunderstanding.

The important thing to be kept in mind is not to make judgemental statements or use biased terms in the form of paraphrases. This puts off the client and makes him/her trust the therapist less. You must allow the client to come to conclusions on their own and not put words in their mouth. 

Tone of voice

It is a good thing to keep a tab on the tone of voice used with the client while paraphrasing the client’s words. Be mindful of the following:

• A high or low voice
• A loud or soft voice
• Fast or slow voice
• Accommodating or demanding
• A lighthearted or gloomy voice

Be aware of the moderations used in voice, pitch, tone, and your body language as well. The client places an immense amount of trust in the therapist and they tend to remember how the therapist made them feel, at the end of the process. Therefore, it is imperative to be careful and gentle while dealing with clients and the information they provide. At the end of the day, the aim of the counselor must be to help the client feel validated and more confident through the usage of paraphrases. 

Alternatives that do not define paraphrasing

• Paraphrasing is not equivalent to repeating what the client just said. That is called repetition. Paraphrasing involves empathetic understanding and the right choice of words to help the client feel safe and heard.
• Parroting the words of the client reveals the idea that the therapist is not there with the client mentally and might cause irritation and frustration in the client. Eventually, they might even stop communicating, as a consequence. 

In this article, we discussed the topic: paraphrasing in counseling. We saw the importance of paraphrasing as a counselor’s skill, its emphasis on the essence, how it helps in the theme growth of empathy, and things to be kept in mind while using paraphrases. 

FAQs: paraphrasing in counseling

Why do counselors use paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing is one of the most important skills that is required, in the process of counseling. Paraphrasing in counseling is a way of responding, which informs the client that the counselor has precisely heard what the client has conveyed. These kinds of paraphrases, encouragers, and summaries are important and helpful for the client to feel understood in the process of counseling. They make the client feel more comfortable and less vulnerable in the relationship with their therapist. Paraphrasing and summarising are active and efficient ways of communicating to the client that they have been heard. 

What is the difference between paraphrasing and reflecting in counseling?

The difference between paraphrasing and reflecting in counseling is that in paraphrasing you are only summarizing what the client has conveyed. When the client conveys certain information to you, you use paraphrasing skills to reaffirm the meaning of what the client conveyed through his words. On the other hand, the skill of reflection is slightly different. In reflection, you go beyond the process of summarizing what the client said to try to identify the feelings and thought patterns the client may have not identified, but their words and attitudes indicate the presence of such feelings and thought patterns. 

How do you reflect in counseling?

Reflection is an extremely useful and comprehensive skill use by counselors in the process of counseling. It can be compared to holding up a mirror to see the reflection of yourself in it. While reflecting on what the client said, you repeat the client’s words back to them in the exact way they conveyed it to the therapist. In the process, the therapist might choose to reflect on a selected set of words, the whole sentence, or sometimes, just a single word is used for the purpose. This helps the client in gaining insight into his thought process and how it works. It also helps him to connect many events in his life to his way of thinking and feeling and how it affected those events. Clients find the process of reflection a potential tool for growth and meaningful understanding of their obstacles in the process of counseling and how to overcome them. 

How is paraphrasing helpful?

Paraphrasing is important for the mutual understanding of both the client’s and the therapist’s understanding of the client’s situation. It helps the client in revealing the source of his thoughts and emotions in many instances and it acts as a breakthrough for the client in the process of counseling. The therapist also makes good use of the paraphrasing skill to confirm and reaffirm the meaning and tone of emotion used to convey anything that is said by the client, to clear the air of doubts or confusions and make the process of counseling smooth and hassle-free. It provides a good deal of understanding between the client and the therapist.

What are some counseling skills?

The most essential and primary ten skills required in counseling are as follows:

Listening: the counselor must be able to provide their undivided and complete attention to the client, while they are sharing their thoughts, emotions, and their queries. Empathy: the counselor must be empathetic, genuine, non-biased, and able to sincerely understand the emotional state of their clients.  Genuineness.  Unconditional positive regard: the counselor must be non-judgemental and completely accepting of the client as a person, without any expectation of personal gain or rewards.  being concrete Open-ended questioning: open-ended questioning is a form of questioning process which is used to assist the client in clarifying or exploring thoughts. Self-disclosure of the counselor Meaningful interpretation and explanation skill Appropriate and helpful delivery of suggestions, when needed Consistent removal of obstacles in the way of change.

What is the primary goal of counseling?

The primary goal of counseling is to enable the client to make their own decisions, concerning various aspects of their life, such as career, education, personal growth, relationships, and health. The client should be able to think and act for themselves, without the aid of external influential sources. Counseling will help the clients gain information and also to clarify emotional concerns that may interfere with or be related to the decisions involved. It enhances their problem-solving skills and let them depend less on people’s opinions and judgments.

http://www.csun.edu/~hcpsy002/Psy460_GrpTask05_Paraphra.pdf

https://counsellingtutor.com/basic-counselling-skills/reflecting-and-paraphrasing/

https://www.basic-counseling-skills.com/paraphrasingtone.html

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Paraphrasing in Therapy: Enhancing Communication and Empathy

In the therapeutic dance of words and emotions, paraphrasing emerges as a powerful tool, weaving together the threads of understanding, empathy, and transformative communication. It’s a skill that, when mastered, can turn the tides of a therapy session, creating waves of insight and connection that ripple through the client’s journey of self-discovery. But what exactly is paraphrasing in therapy, and why does it hold such a revered place in the therapist’s toolkit?

At its core, paraphrasing in therapy is the art of restating a client’s words or ideas in a different way, while maintaining the essence of their message. It’s like holding up a mirror to the client’s thoughts, but one that reflects not just the surface, but the depths beneath. This seemingly simple act serves as a cornerstone of therapeutic communication, bridging the gap between what is said and what is understood.

The beauty of paraphrasing lies in its versatility. It can clarify complex emotions, validate experiences, and even gently challenge perceptions. As we delve deeper into this topic, we’ll explore how paraphrasing can transform therapy sessions, enhance empathy, and create a space where healing and growth flourish.

The Fundamentals of Paraphrasing in Therapy: More Than Just Echoing Words

To truly grasp the power of paraphrasing, we need to dissect its components. Effective paraphrasing isn’t just about repeating what the client said in different words. It’s an intricate dance of listening, processing, and responding in a way that adds value to the conversation.

First and foremost, paraphrasing requires active listening. This means not just hearing the words, but tuning into the emotions, the unspoken messages, and the subtle nuances in tone and body language. It’s about being fully present with the client, absorbing their story with all your senses.

Once you’ve truly listened, the next step is to distill the essence of what was said. This involves identifying the core message, the underlying emotions, and the key points that seem most significant to the client. It’s like being a detective, piecing together clues to form a coherent picture.

The final step is to reflect this understanding back to the client in a way that is clear, concise, and empathetic. This is where the art of paraphrasing truly shines. It’s not about using fancy words or psychological jargon. Instead, it’s about finding simple, relatable language that captures the heart of what the client is expressing.

But how does paraphrasing differ from other therapeutic techniques? While Mirroring in Therapy: Enhancing Empathy and Connection in Therapeutic Relationships involves mimicking the client’s body language and tone, paraphrasing focuses on the content of their speech. It’s less about matching their external expression and more about reflecting their internal world.

Similarly, while summarizing condenses information into key points, paraphrasing aims to maintain the full richness of the client’s expression. It’s not about reducing their words, but about expanding understanding.

The psychological basis for paraphrasing’s effectiveness lies in its ability to create a sense of being truly heard and understood. When a therapist accurately paraphrases a client’s thoughts or feelings, it validates their experience and creates a strong sense of empathy. This, in turn, fosters trust and openness, paving the way for deeper exploration and healing.

The Myriad Benefits of Paraphrasing: Building Bridges of Understanding

Now that we’ve laid the groundwork, let’s explore the treasure trove of benefits that paraphrasing brings to the therapeutic relationship. It’s like a Swiss Army knife in the therapist’s toolbox, serving multiple crucial functions.

First and foremost, paraphrasing is a master key to building rapport and trust. When a client hears their thoughts reflected back accurately, it creates an immediate sense of being understood. This understanding forms the bedrock of a strong therapeutic alliance, crucial for effective therapy.

Imagine you’re the client, pouring out your heart about a difficult situation. Your therapist listens intently, then says, “It sounds like you’re feeling overwhelmed and unsupported in this situation. The pressure to perform at work, combined with family responsibilities, is leaving you feeling stretched thin and unappreciated.” Wouldn’t you feel a sense of relief and connection, knowing that your therapist truly gets it?

Beyond building rapport, paraphrasing serves as a powerful tool for improving clarity and understanding. Often, clients come to therapy with a jumble of thoughts and emotions. By paraphrasing, therapists can help organize these thoughts, making them more tangible and manageable. It’s like untangling a knotted necklace – suddenly, the individual strands become clear and distinct.

But perhaps one of the most profound benefits of paraphrasing is its ability to facilitate emotional validation and empathy. When a therapist accurately reflects a client’s emotions, it sends a powerful message: “I see you. I hear you. Your feelings are valid.” This validation can be incredibly healing, especially for clients who have felt dismissed or misunderstood in their lives.

Supportive Reflection in Therapy: Enhancing Client Growth and Self-Understanding is closely related to paraphrasing, but takes it a step further by adding a supportive element to the reflection. Both techniques work hand in hand to create a nurturing environment for client growth.

Lastly, paraphrasing encourages deeper self-reflection in clients. When clients hear their thoughts and feelings reflected back, it often sparks new insights. They might realize, “Wow, I didn’t know I felt so strongly about that,” or “I never saw the connection between those two issues before.” This self-discovery is the fertile soil from which personal growth and change can sprout.

Mastering the Art: Techniques for Effective Paraphrasing

Now that we’ve explored the ‘why’ of paraphrasing, let’s dive into the ‘how’. Mastering the art of paraphrasing is like learning to play a musical instrument – it requires practice, sensitivity, and a good ear.

The foundation of effective paraphrasing is active listening. This means giving your full attention to the client, not just waiting for your turn to speak. It involves listening not just to the words, but to the tone, the pauses, the things left unsaid. It’s about being fully present in the moment, attuned to the client’s every nuance.

But active listening isn’t just about the ears. It’s also about the eyes and the body. Your non-verbal cues play a crucial role in communicating your attention and understanding. Maintaining appropriate eye contact, nodding at key points, and leaning in slightly can all convey your engagement and empathy.

When it comes to the actual paraphrasing, accuracy is key. The goal is to capture not just the content of what the client said, but the underlying emotions and meanings. This requires a delicate balance of mirroring the client’s language while also offering new perspectives or connections.

For example, if a client says, “I just can’t seem to get anything right at work. My boss is always criticizing me, and I feel like I’m walking on eggshells,” you might paraphrase it as, “It sounds like you’re feeling really discouraged and anxious at work. The constant criticism from your boss is making you feel insecure and on edge.”

This paraphrase captures both the content (problems at work, criticism from the boss) and the emotions (discouragement, anxiety, insecurity) while also offering a slight reframe that might help the client see their situation more clearly.

It’s also important to strike a balance between repetition and rephrasing. While you want to use some of the client’s own words to show you’ve been listening, you also want to offer new language or perspectives that might help them see their situation in a different light.

Navigating the Choppy Waters: Challenges in Therapeutic Paraphrasing

Like any powerful tool, paraphrasing comes with its own set of challenges and potential pitfalls. Being aware of these can help therapists navigate the sometimes choppy waters of therapeutic communication.

One of the most common challenges is the risk of misinterpreting client statements. It’s easy to project our own assumptions or experiences onto what the client is saying, leading to inaccurate paraphrasing. This is why it’s crucial to always check in with the client after paraphrasing, asking something like, “Have I understood you correctly?”

Another potential pitfall is over-reliance on paraphrasing at the expense of other therapeutic techniques. While paraphrasing is incredibly useful, it shouldn’t be the only tool in your therapeutic toolkit. Balancing paraphrasing with other interventions, such as asking open-ended questions or offering interpretations, can create a more dynamic and effective therapy session.

Cultural considerations also play a significant role in effective paraphrasing. Words, phrases, and even emotional expressions can have different meanings in different cultures. For therapists working with clients from diverse backgrounds, it’s crucial to be aware of these differences and to approach paraphrasing with cultural humility and curiosity.

Broaching in Therapy: Enhancing Cultural Competence and Client Trust is a valuable technique that can complement paraphrasing when working with clients from diverse backgrounds. It involves directly addressing cultural differences and their potential impact on the therapeutic relationship.

Maintaining professional boundaries while paraphrasing can also be challenging. The intimacy created by accurate paraphrasing can sometimes blur the lines of the therapeutic relationship. It’s important for therapists to remain aware of these boundaries, ensuring that empathy doesn’t slide into over-identification or inappropriate self-disclosure.

Paraphrasing Across Therapeutic Approaches: A Universal Tool

One of the beautiful things about paraphrasing is its versatility. It’s not tied to any single therapeutic approach but can be integrated effectively into various modalities.

In cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), for instance, paraphrasing can be used to help clients identify and challenge negative thought patterns. A therapist might paraphrase a client’s automatic negative thoughts, helping to bring them into sharper focus for examination and restructuring.

In psychodynamic approaches, paraphrasing can be a powerful tool for exploring unconscious patterns and defenses. By carefully reflecting back the client’s words, the therapist can help bring hidden meanings or conflicts to the surface.

Solution-focused therapy can also benefit from skilled paraphrasing. Here, the therapist might use paraphrasing to highlight exceptions to the problem or to reframe issues in a more solution-oriented way.

Even in group therapy settings, paraphrasing plays a crucial role. It can help clarify communication between group members, model effective listening skills, and create a sense of shared understanding within the group.

Therapeutic Communication for Schizophrenia: Effective Strategies for Support and Recovery often relies heavily on paraphrasing to ensure clear communication and understanding. This is particularly important when working with clients who may have disordered thought processes or difficulty expressing themselves clearly.

Beyond Words: The Non-Verbal Dimension of Paraphrasing

While we’ve focused primarily on the verbal aspects of paraphrasing, it’s important to remember that communication is about much more than just words. Non-Verbal Therapy Techniques: Powerful Tools for Effective Communication in Counseling can significantly enhance the impact of paraphrasing.

Your tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language all play a crucial role in how your paraphrasing is received. A gentle tone can convey empathy, while a slight lean forward can show engagement. Even a thoughtful pause before responding can communicate that you’re really considering the client’s words.

Moreover, being attuned to the client’s non-verbal cues can greatly inform your paraphrasing. If a client says they’re “fine” but their body language suggests otherwise, your paraphrasing might reflect this discrepancy, gently bringing it into the conversation.

The Paradox of Paraphrasing: When Less is More

Interestingly, effective paraphrasing sometimes involves saying less rather than more. This concept aligns with the principles of Paradoxical Therapy: Unconventional Approach to Mental Health Treatment , where seemingly contradictory interventions can lead to positive outcomes.

In paraphrasing, sometimes a simple, concise reflection can be more powerful than a lengthy restatement. For example, if a client shares a long, emotional story about a conflict with a family member, a brief paraphrase like “You felt deeply hurt and misunderstood” might capture the essence more effectively than a detailed recap.

This “less is more” approach can create space for the client to elaborate further or to sit with their emotions, potentially leading to deeper insights.

The Language of Therapy: Decoding Paraphrasing

As we delve deeper into the world of paraphrasing, it’s worth noting that it has its own unique language. Therapy Sayings: Decoding Common Phrases and Jargon in Mental Health and Therapy Buzzwords: Decoding the Language of Mental Health can provide valuable insights into the specific phrases and terms often used in therapeutic paraphrasing.

Understanding this language can help both therapists and clients navigate the paraphrasing process more effectively. For therapists, it can provide a repertoire of useful phrases to draw from. For clients, understanding these terms can help them engage more fully in the therapeutic process, recognizing when and how paraphrasing is being used.

The Ripple Effect: Paraphrasing and Parallel Process

The impact of effective paraphrasing extends beyond the immediate therapeutic relationship. It can create a ripple effect, influencing how clients communicate in their personal and professional lives.

This relates to the concept of Parallel Process in Therapy: Enhancing Treatment Through Mirrored Relationships . As clients experience being deeply heard and understood through paraphrasing, they may begin to adopt similar listening and reflecting skills in their own relationships.

In this way, the therapeutic use of paraphrasing can have far-reaching effects, potentially improving communication and understanding in the client’s broader life context.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Paraphrasing in Therapy

As we wrap up our exploration of paraphrasing in therapy, it’s worth considering what the future might hold for this fundamental technique. While the basic principles of paraphrasing are likely to remain constant, new research and evolving therapeutic approaches may refine and expand its application.

For instance, advancements in neuroscience might provide deeper insights into how paraphrasing affects the brain, potentially leading to more targeted and effective use of the technique. Similarly, the growing field of teletherapy may present new challenges and opportunities for paraphrasing in virtual settings.

There’s also potential for technology to play a role in helping therapists improve their paraphrasing skills. AI-powered tools could potentially provide real-time feedback on the accuracy and effectiveness of therapists’ paraphrasing, although the human touch will always remain central to the therapeutic process.

In conclusion, paraphrasing stands as a cornerstone of effective therapy, a bridge between minds and hearts that facilitates understanding, promotes healing, and catalyzes change. It’s a skill worth honing, a tool worth sharpening, and a practice worth perfecting. For in the end, therapy is about connection – and paraphrasing, at its best, is connection distilled into its purest form.

As we continue to explore and refine this powerful technique, we open doors to deeper understanding, more effective interventions, and ultimately, more profound healing. The dance of words and emotions continues, and with skillful paraphrasing as our guide, we can navigate its intricate steps with grace and purpose.

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5. Sommers-Flanagan, J., & Sommers-Flanagan, R. (2018). Clinical interviewing (6th ed.). John Wiley & Sons.

6. Egan, G. (2013). The skilled helper: A problem-management and opportunity-development approach to helping (10th ed.). Cengage Learning.

7. Teyber, E., & McClure, F. H. (2011). Interpersonal process in therapy: An integrative model (6th ed.). Cengage Learning.

8. Kottler, J. A., & Balkin, R. S. (2017). Relationships in counseling and the counselor’s life. American Counseling Association.

9. Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2015). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (7th ed.). John Wiley & Sons.

10. Wampold, B. E., & Imel, Z. E. (2015). The great psychotherapy debate: The evidence for what makes psychotherapy work (2nd ed.). Routledge.

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Reflecting and Paraphrasing

Part of the ‘art of listening’ is making sure that the client knows their story is being listened to.

This is achieved by the helper/counsellor repeating back to the client parts of their story. This known as paraphrasing .

Reflecting is showing the client that you have ‘heard’ not only what is being said, but also what feelings and emotions the client is experiencing when sharing their story with you .

This is sometimes known in counselling ‘speak ‘as the music behind the words .

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It is like holding up a mirror to the client; repeating what they have said shows the client they have your full attention. It also allows the client to make sure you fully understood them; if not, they can correct you.

Reflecting and paraphrasing should not only contain what is being said but what emotion or feeling the client is expressing.

Let’s look at an example:

Client (Mohammed): My ex-wife phoned me yesterday; she told me that our daughter Nafiza (who is only 9) is very ill after a car accident. I am feeling very scared for her. They live in France, so I am going to have to travel to see her, and now I have been made redundant, I don’t know how I can afford to go.

Counsellor: So, Mohammed, you have had some bad news about your little girl, who has been involved in an accident. You are frightened for her and also have worries over money now you have lost your job.

Client: Yes, yes ... that’s right.

Notice that the counsellor does not offer advice or start asking how long Mohammed and his wife have been separated, but reflects the emotion of what is said : ‘frightened' and 'worries'.

Reflecting and paraphrasing are the first skills we learn as helpers, and they remain the most useful.

To build a trusting relationship with a helper, the client needs not only to be ‘listened to' but also to be heard and valued as a person.

"Reflecting and paraphrasing should not only contain what is being said but what emotion or feeling the client is expressing."

Definition of Reflection in Counselling

Reflection in counselling is like holding up a mirror: repeating the client’s words back to them exactly as they said them.

You might reflect back the whole sentence, or you might select a few words – or even one single word – from what the client has brought.

I often refer to reflection as ‘the lost skill’ because when I watch counselling students doing simulated skill sessions, or listen to their recordings from placement (where clients have consented to this), I seldom see reflection being used as a skill. This is a pity, as reflection can be very powerful.

When we use the skill of reflection, we are looking to match the tone, the feeling of the words, and the client’s facial expression or body language as they spoke .

For example, they might have hunched their shoulders as they said, ‘I was so scared; I didn’t know what to do.’

We might reflect that back by hunching our own shoulders, mirroring their body language while also saying ‘I felt so scared; I didn’t know what to do.’

Using Reflection to Clarify Our Understanding

We can also use reflection to clarify our understanding, instead of using a question.

For example, suppose the client says:

‘My husband and my father are fighting. I’m really angry with him.’

For me to be in the client’s frame of reference, I need to know whether ‘him’ refers to the husband or the father. So I might reflect back the word ‘ him ’  with a quizzical look.

The client might then respond:

‘Yeah, my dad. He really gets to me when he is non-accepting.’

So you can get clarification in this way. You can adjust where you are to make sure that the empathic bond is strong and that you are truly within the client’s frame of reference.

"When we use the skill of reflection, we are looking to match the tone, the feeling of the words, and the client’s facial expression or body language as they spoke".

Definition of Paraphrasing in Counselling

Paraphrasing is repeating back your understanding of the material that has been brought by the client, using your own words.

A paraphrase reflects the essence of what has been said .

We all use paraphrasing in our everyday lives. If you look at your studies to become a counsellor or psychotherapist, you paraphrase in class.

Maybe your lecturer brings a body of work, and you listen and make notes: you’re paraphrasing as you distill this down to what you feel is important.

How Paraphrasing Builds Empathy

How does paraphrasing affect the client-counsellor relationship?

First of all, it helps the client to feel both heard and understood. The client brings their material, daring to share that with you.

And you show that you’re listening by giving them a little portion of that back – the part that feels the most important. You paraphrase it down.

And if you do that accurately and correctly, and it matches where the client is, the client is going to recognise that and to feel heard: ‘ Finally, somebody is there really listening, really understanding what it is that I am bringing.’

This keys right into empathy, because it’s about building that empathic relationship with the client. And empathy is not a one-way transaction .

..."Empathy [is] the ability to ‘perceive the internal frame of reference of another with accuracy and with the emotional components and meanings which pertain thereto as if one were the person, but without ever losing the 'as if' conditions." Carl Rogers (1959, pp. 210–211)

In other words, we walk in somebody’s shoes as if their reality is our reality – but of course it’s not our reality, and that’s where the ‘as if’ comes in.

I’ve heard this rather aptly described as ‘walking in the client’s shoes, but keeping our socks on’!

Empathy is a two-way transaction – that is, it’s not enough for us to be 100% in the client’s frame of reference , understanding their true feelings; the client must also perceive that we understand .

When the client feels at some level that they have been understood, then the empathy circle is complete.

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Paraphrasing

What is Paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing is repeating back your understanding of the material that has been brought by the client in your own words. A paraphrase reflects the essence of what has been said.

We all use paraphrasing in our everyday lives. If you look at your studies to become a counsellor or psychotherapist, you paraphrase in class. Maybe your lecturer brings a body of work, and you list and make notes: you’re paraphrasing as you distil this down to what you feel is important.

The Power of Paraphrasing:

• The speaker feels heard.
• Helps the listener to adjust frame of reference.
• Highlights areas of high importance.
• Acts as an invite to explore deeper.
• Can indicate an end to the current discussion.

How Paraphrasing Builds Empathy

How does paraphrasing affect the client-counsellor relationship? First of all, it helps the client to feel both heard and understood. The client brings their material, daring to share that with you, and you show that you’re listening by giving them a little portion of that back – the part that feels the most important. You paraphrase it down. If you do that accurately and correctly, and it matches where the client is, the client is going to recognise that and feel heard: ‘Finally, somebody is really listening, really understanding what it is that I am bringing.’

This keys right into empathy, because it’s about building that empathic relationship with the client – and empathy is not a one-way transaction. Carl Rogers (1959, pp. 210-211) defines ‘empathy’ as the ability to ‘perceive the internal frame of reference of another with accuracy and with the emotional components and meanings which pertain thereto as if one were the person, but without ever losing the “as if” conditions’. In other words, we walk in somebody’s shoes as if their reality is our own – but of course it’s not our reality, and that’s where the ‘as if’ comes in. I’ve heard this rather aptly described as ‘walking in the client’s shoes, but keeping our socks on’!

Empathy is a two-way transaction – it’s not enough for us to be 100% in the client’s frame of reference and understanding their true feelings; the client must also perceive that we understand. When the client feels at some level that they have been understood, then the empathy circle is complete.

For example, if you watch a TV programme in which somebody achieves something that is really spectacular, you may find yourself moved for this person. You’re almost there with them on this journey, and as they’re receiving their award or their adulation, and the audience is clapping for what they’ve done, you may even be moved to tears. But the person on the TV cannot perceive your reaction – the empathy is empty, because it’s one-way.

So empathy is effective only if your client feels heard and understood – i.e. they sense that empathic connection. Using paraphrasing is a way of completing the empathy circle – a way of letting them know that we see and hear them.

Other Benefits of Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing also highlights issues by stating them more concisely. This is focusing down: it invites the client to go and delve deeper into part of what they have said. We can also use paraphrasing to check out the accuracy of our perception as a counsellor.

Below is an example of my use of paraphrasing to clarify my understanding of what was brought. This shows how paraphrasing affects the therapeutic relationship; because the paraphrase fits well for the client, she feels heard and understood. As this happens, the material deepens.

I really have a battle with doing things for the impression that others will have of me, or the approval that I will get from other people for what it is that I do. So much so that I will very often override myself, my family, so that I can gain the acceptance, I guess, of other people, whether friends, family or clients in a work situation. I will always favour what the action would be that would gain that acceptance, that would not bring up any sort of confrontation or maybe have a conflict situation arise from it.

So, I guess, I’m eager to please, wanting to make sure that all things are well and smooth – and that I’m liked and accepted with whatever the transaction or situation may be.

Counsellor:

As you’re saying that, it really feels like a lot of hard work. A lot of hard work, pre-empting whatever it is that they would have expected of you, and then ‘sacrificing’, I guess, is a word that came up for me – sacrificing your own wants/needs to be able to meet what you perceive is expected of you. Have I understood that correctly?

Yeah, the word ‘sacrifice’ really captures the feeling that comes up for me when I sort of reflect and look over that kind of situation. So often, I will sacrifice my own wants and my own desires…

In this example, the client really resonated with the word ‘sacrifice’, which the counsellor introduced as a paraphrase; she really felt understood. And it’s interesting to note that throughout the rest of this stimulated session, the word ‘sacrifice’ became almost a theme.

Another paraphrase in this example was ‘hard work’. Although the client hadn’t used this phrase herself, she was presenting visually as weighed down. Her shoulders looked heavy as she was bringing the material. So the counsellor was paraphrasing, not only the words of the narrative, but digging deeper, looking for the feelings and paraphrasing the whole presence of that client within that relationship.

Listening for ‘the Music behind the Words’

Here is another example of paraphrasing, from the same skills session. Try to see if you can hear, as Rogers would put it, ‘the music behind the words’, where the counsellor looks deeper than just the words the client is bringing, paraphrasing back their whole being.

Out of my own will or my own free choice, I would put that aside and favour what would be accepted – or what I think someone else would rather I do. And sometimes it’s hard. It leaves me with a situation of not knowing if they actually really realise what it is that I sacrificed, that I’ve given up, so that it can fall into what I think they would prefer in that situation.

It feels confusing to you in that situation of whether they even perceive what it is that you are sacrificing, what you’re giving up. That it almost feels like you’re giving up part of yourself to match what you think they may want or need from you. And I kind of got the feeling, as you were saying that you wonder if they even see that.

Yeah. As I was sort of verbalizing and talking through that, I actually realised that even within that sacrifice, it’s all my perception of what I think they might want me to do. And just saying that is actually a bit ridiculous. Because how am I to know what it is that they want or need to do? So here I am – disregarding my own desires, for lack of a better word – to do something I assume someone else would want me to do instead.

I thought it was really interesting that this client started off in what felt to me like an external locus of evaluation. She was confused, and wondering whether the people she refers to understood what she was giving up to meet their perceived expectations. Immediately after the counsellor’s paraphrase, this client experienced a moment of movement from an external to an internal locus of evaluation, where she realised it was all about her own perceptions and responsibility. In this way, she went from being powerless to having the power to change this situation.

Next Steps in Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is so much more than just repeating the client’s words back to them using your own words. Although it might feel very simplistic – and there’s often a tendency to paraphrase the narrative/story that the client brings, rather than their feelings/process – there’s so much more to it than that and so much deeper that we can go. There’s real power in paraphrasing.

I suggest that you:

• Practice active listening and paraphrasing in your day-to-day life.
• Practice paraphrasing in your own stimulated skills sessions.
• Try to look for the full person when paraphrasing, e.g. not just the client’s words, but also their body language, facial expressions, and way of being within the counselling relationship.
• Record these sessions (with your peer’s consent) and listen back to them.
• Speak to your peers about paraphrasing.
• Evaluate each other’s skills and explore how you might paraphrase more effectively.
• Look whether you’re getting empathic connection within your paraphrasing.
• Search out moments of movement when you paraphrase.
• Ask how paraphrasing affects both the client and you, as a counsellor.

Paraphrasing is definitely something that should be debated. I hope that this chapter will encourage you to go out there with a new passion for – and a new way of looking at – paraphrasing!

Alternatives to Questions

What else can we use when we’re not sure what exactly a client means? For example, if a client was speaking about his brother and father, he might say: ‘I really struggle with my brother and my father. They don’t get on, and at times he makes me so angry.’ Who does the client mean by ‘he’: the brother or the father? Not knowing who makes him angry means I cannot be fully within the client’s frame of reference.

I could ask: ‘Sorry, just so I can understand, who it is that you’re angry at – your father or your brother?’ This risks ripping the client out of that emotion (the anger). Instead, we could use reflection: ‘He makes you so angry.’ This invites the client to expand on what he has said. He might say: ‘Yes, ever since I was a young boy, my dad was always…’ In this case, I didn’t need to ask a question – we’re still in the feelings, and I’ve got what I needed in order to be fully in the client’s frame of reference.

Of course, the client might not reveal the information I need in his answer – for example, if he responded to my reflection: ‘He does. He makes me really angry – in fact, so angry that I don’t know what to do about it anymore.’ In that case, I would still need to put in a question: ‘Is this your dad or your brother that you’re referring to?’

Rogers, C, 1959. ‘A Theory of Therapy, Personallity, and Interpersonal Relations, as Developed in the Client-Centered Framework’, in S Koch (ed.),  Psychology: A Study of a Science  (Vol.3), New York: McGraw-Hill, 184-256.

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Encouragers, Paraphrasing and Summarising

A counsellor can encourage a client to continue to talk, open up more freely and explore issues in greater depth by providing accurate responses through encouraging, paraphrasing and summarising. Responding in this way informs the client that the counsellor has accurately heard what they have been saying. Encouragers, paraphrases and summaries are basic to helping a client feel understood.

Encouragers, also known as intentional listening , involve fully attending to the client, thus allowing them to explore their feelings and thoughts more completely. Paraphrasing and summarising are more active ways of communicating to the client that they have been listened to. Summarising is particularly useful to help clients organise their thinking.

The diagram below shows how encouragers, paraphrases and summaries are on different points of a continuum, each building on more of the information provided by the client to accurately assess issues and events.

Encouragers – Encouragers are a variety of verbal and non-verbal ways of prompting clients to continue talking.

Types of encouragers include:

• Non-verbal minimal responses such as a nod of the head or positive facial expressions
• Verbal minimal responses such as “Uh-huh” and “I hear what you’re saying”
• Brief invitations to continue such as “Tell me more”

Encouragers simply encourage the client to keep talking. For a counsellor to have more influence on the direction of client progress they would need to make use of other techniques.

Paraphrases – To paraphrase, the counsellor chooses the most important details of what the client has just said and reflects them back to the client. Paraphrases can be just a few words or one or two brief sentences.

Paraphrasing is not a matter of simply repeating or parroting what the client has stated. Rather it is capturing the essence of what the client is saying, through rephrasing. When the counsellor has captured what the client is saying, often the client will say, “That’s right” or offer some other form of confirmation.

Example: I have just broken up with Jason. The way he was treating me was just too much to bear. Every time I tried to touch on the subject with him he would just clam up. I feel so much better now. Paraphrase: You feel much better after breaking up with Jason.

Summaries – Summaries are brief statements of longer excerpts from the counselling session. In summarising, the counsellor attends to verbal and non-verbal comments from the client over a period of time, and then pulls together key parts of the extended communication, restating them for the client as accurately as possible.

A check-out, phrased at the end of the summary, is an important component of the statement, enabling a check of the accuracy of the counsellor’s response. Summaries are similar to paraphrasing, except they are used less frequently and encompass more information.

• July 21, 2009
• Communication , Counselling Process , Encouraging , Microskills , Paraphrasing
• Counselling Theory & Process

Comments: 23

Yeah,must say i like the simple way these basic counselling skills are explained in this article. More of same would be most welcome as it helps give a better understanding of the counselling process and the methods and techniques used within the counselling arena

I really find this information helpful as a refresher in my studies and work. Please keep up the excellent work of ‘educating’ us on being a better counsellor. Thank you!

Wonderfully helpful posting. Many thanks!

Thankyou so much. I am doing a assignment at uni about scitzophrenia and needed to clarify what paraphrasing truly meant. Cheers

So helpful to me as a counselor.

Thankx so much for these post. I’m doing Counselling and Community Services and I need to clarify what summarising and paraphrasing really meant. Once again thank you, this information it’s really helpful

Hello Antoinette friend and doing guidance and counselling need uo help about this question With relevent examples explain the following concepts as used in communicating to clients. (I;listening to verbal messages and using encouraged minimal prompts. 2)making use of non verbal communication and exhibiting attending behaviours using Gerald Eganis macro skill SOLER/ROLES. 3.paraphrasing 4.identifying and reflecting feelings and emotions from the clients story 5.summarizing 6.confrotation 7.counsellor self disclosure 8.asking open and close open ended concept 9.answering questions 10.clarifying

thanks I am doing a counselling community services at careers Australia

Really love the explanations given to the active listening techniques it was really useful and helpful good work done.

Helpful. Thanks!

I really like hw u explain everything in to simple terms for my understanding.

Hai ,thanks for being here .Am a student social worker,i need help an an able to listen to get the implied massages from the client.and to bring questions to explore with them .I love to do this work .What shall I do.how do i train my self in listening.

really appreciate.

You explanation of these three basic intentional listening are very helpful. Thank you for remained us.

very helpful indeed in making the client more open and exploring the issues more deeply

Very important cues.thanks

the article was helpful .thank you for explaining it in more clear and simple words.appreciate it alot .

I need to write about what counselling words mean ie I understand summarising and paraphrasing any more would be useful as I’m near the end of my course

I have a role play exam tomorrow on counselling and find above explanation very useful. thanks for sharing.

This explanation is clear and precise. Very easy to understanding than the expensive textbook. Please keep posting as this helps a lot. Thanks and God bless.

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One of the simple and memorable descriptions of this I’ve read, thanks so much!

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What is paraphrasing and Summarising in Counselling?

Table of Contents

• 1 What is paraphrasing and Summarising in Counselling?
• 2 What is the difference between reflecting and paraphrasing in Counselling?
• 3 What are the functions of paraphrasing?
• 4 What is a paraphrasing response?
• 5 What is a restatement in counseling?
• 6 What is the best definition of paraphrasing?
• 7 What is a reflection of feeling in counseling?
• 8 What is a reflection of content in counseling?

Paraphrases – To paraphrase, the counsellor chooses the most important details of what the client has just said and reflects them back to the client. Paraphrase: You feel much better after breaking up with Jason. Summaries – Summaries are brief statements of longer excerpts from the counselling session.

What is paraphrasing in person centered therapy?

Paraphrasing or active listening (coined by Carl R. Rogers in Client-Centered-Therapy) is a form of responding empathically to the emotions of another person by repeating in other words what this person said while focusing on the essence of what they feel and what is important to them.

What is the difference between reflecting and paraphrasing in Counselling?

The difference between paraphrasing and reflective listening is that in paraphrasing you are only summarizing what the victim has said. With reflective listening, you are going beyond summarizing to identifying feelings that the person may not have identified, but their words and attitudes point to such feelings.

What are examples of paraphrasing?

Here are some examples of paraphrasing individual sentences: Original: Her life spanned years of incredible change for women as they gained more rights than ever before. Paraphrase: She lived through the exciting era of women’s liberation.

What are the functions of paraphrasing?

The purpose of a paraphrase is to convey the meaning of the original message and, in doing so, to prove that you understand the passage well enough to restate it. The paraphrase should give the reader an accurate understanding of the author’s position on the topic.

Why is paraphrasing important in counseling?

In essence, paraphrasing is a micro skill that allows counselors to create an authentic bond with their clients Together with encouraging and summarizing, paraphrasing plays a crucial role in therapeutic communication, making the client feel understood and listened to.

What is a paraphrasing response?

Paraphrasing is about stating thoughts from a different angle. It concentrates on immediate client statements. It is about taking what the client has said and repeating it back to them in your own words BUT not necessarily using the same words.

What is the example of paraphrasing?

Sometimes you only need to paraphrase the information from one sentence. Here are some examples of paraphrasing individual sentences: Original: Her life spanned years of incredible change for women as they gained more rights than ever before. Paraphrase: She lived through the exciting era of women’s liberation.

What is a restatement in counseling?

Restatement is a basic counseling intervention and one of the hallmarks of Rogerian psychotherapy. This technique involves capturing the essence of a client’s statement and then restating it. The most rudimentary function of this approach is to provide an opportunity for clarification.

What do you mean by paraphrasing?

When you paraphrase, you use your own words to express something that was written or said by another person. Putting it into your own words can clarify the message, make it more relevant to your audience , or give it greater impact. You might use paraphrased material to support your own argument or viewpoint.

What is the best definition of paraphrasing?

1 : a restatement of a text, passage, or work giving the meaning in another form The teacher asked the students to write a paraphrase of the poem.

What does reflecting mean in counseling?

What is a reflection of feeling in counseling?

What is the purpose of paraphrasing in listening skills?

What is a reflection of content in counseling?

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What Does Paraphrasing In Therapy Mean

Table of Contents

What does paraphrasing in therapy mean?

Active listening, also known as paraphrasing, is a technique for responding empathically to another person’s emotions by rephrasing what they have said while concentrating on the core of what they have felt and what is significant to them. Carl R. Rogers coined the term in Client-Centered Therapy. To give context for your argument or thesis, summarizing is the process of quickly outlining the main ideas of a theory or body of work. To understand the author’s intentions, read the piece first. An incomplete reading could result in an inaccurate summary, so this is an important step.Students learn how to identify the most crucial ideas in a text, how to filter out unimportant information, and how to coherently combine the key ideas through summarizing. Students’ reading retention is improved when they are taught how to summarize.The counselor can ensure that they are accurately understanding what the client is saying by actively listening techniques like encouraging, paraphrasing, and summarizing. These techniques also motivate the client to continue telling their story.By combining two or more of the client’s thoughts, feelings, or behaviors into a single general theme, the counselor creates a summary. Summarizing is typically used as a skill during the choice sections of a counseling interview when the counselor wants to make connections between two or more topics.

What advantages do paraphrasing and summarizing have?

Writing in your own words is strongly advised because it facilitates learning and shows that you comprehend the material. Because they demonstrate your capacity to articulate your understanding of the subject, summarizing and paraphrasing are much more frequently used than quoting. Because it demonstrates that you comprehended the source material well enough to rewrite it in your own words, paraphrasing is crucial. In addition, it offers you a potent substitute for the sparingly employed direct quotations.Similarities Between Paraphrasing and Summarizing Both help the reader understand concepts or make them flow in the writer’s own words and writing style. While changing the language or condensing the passage, both maintain the main ideas.Putting someone else’s thoughts into your own words is known as paraphrasing. A source must be reworded while the original meaning is kept in mind when doing a paraphrase. It’s not necessary to copy someone else’s exact words and place them in quotation marks when you can simply paraphrase.Writing without consulting the source material is a good technique for paraphrasing. Alter the word order in your sentence or substitute synonyms. Verify your meaning by comparing it to the original to ensure it is accurate. Make a note of the source information so you can easily cite it later.

How does counseling summarize?

By combining two or more of the client’s thoughts, feelings, or behaviors into a single general theme, the counselor creates a summary. Summarizing is typically used as a skill during the choice sections of a counseling interview when the counselor wants to make connections between two or more topics. The key ideas of a text are briefly outlined in a summary. A summary’s main goal is to quickly convey the main points of the source material to the reader or listener. You are allowed to write summaries of works by other authors, including books, plays, movies, lectures, lectures, stories, or presentations.Students learn how to identify the most crucial ideas in a text, how to filter out unimportant information, and how to coherently combine the key ideas through summarizing.The two main kinds of summaries are descriptive and evaluative. Not all summaries will perfectly fit into one of these categories, as is the case with many types of writing, but you can use these descriptions as a guide when writing a summary.Outlines, abstracts, and synopses comprise the three primary categories of informative summaries. A written material’s skeleton or overall plan is presented in an outline. Using an outline, you can see how the various parts of the text relate to one another.Summarizing is similar to outlining the storyline of a play. For instance, if someone asked you to sum up the plot of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, you might respond, It’s the tale of a young prince of Denmark who discovers that his uncle and his mother have killed his father, the former king.

What is an illustration of paraphrasing?

Original Sentences: Giraffes can eat up to 75 pounds of food per day and prefer Acacia leaves and hay. Every day, a giraffe can consume up to 75 pounds of hay and Acacia leaves. Original: Any trip to Italy should include a stop in Tuscany to sample the region’s world-class wines. Giraffes can eat up to 75 pounds of food per day and prefer Acacia leaves and hay as food. A giraffe can consume up to 75 pounds of hay and Acacia leaves each day.

Why are synthesis and paraphrasing crucial in counseling?

By providing accurate responses through encouraging, paraphrasing, and summarizing, a counsellor can motivate a client to speak further, to open up more freely, and to delve deeper into topics. By responding in this manner, the counsellor lets the client know that they have been heard clearly. According to the Cambridge Online Dictionary (Cambridge, 2022) paraphrasing is the act of expressing something in different words, whether written or spoken, especially in a shorter and simpler form to make the meaning clearer. A restatement of someone else’s ideas or thoughts in your own words is referred to as paraphrasing.The following are some illustrations of accurate paraphrasing: Counselor: You haven’t found her to be very consistent. Client: There is always something new to do. Counselor: There are lots of options for you to choose from; there must be ten things going on simultaneously.In terms of how paraphrasing impacts the client-counselor relationship, it first makes the client feel heard and understood. The client presents you with their work and is courageous enough to do so. Giving them a little of what feels like the most important part of that back demonstrates that you are paying attention.When you paraphrase, you rephrase the ideas of others in your own words. In other words, you express the author’s ideas’ meaning. While many of the words and sentence structures are your own, you do use some of the author’s key terms.It will be easier to feel heard and understood if you use the technique of paraphrasing. As an illustration, consider Julie, who suffers from anxiety: I can’t get anything done. Nothing is going right, and I feel awful.

What would a counseling paraphrase look like?

The following are some illustrations of accurate paraphrasing: Counselor: You haven’t found her to be very consistent. Client: There is always something new to do. Counselor: There are a lot of activities for you to choose from. It seems like ten different things are happening at once. It’s important to paraphrase because it demonstrates that you comprehended the original material well enough to rephrase it. It also provides you with a potent substitute for the sparingly employed direct quotations.While a summary is much shorter and only provides the main idea of the original source, a paraphrase repeats the entire original text. The method for taking notes and incorporating what you have learned from sources into your own writing that you will likely use the most frequently is summarizing.Students frequently express others’ ideas without sufficiently altering the words, which makes paraphrasing challenging. As a result, the words in the student’s assessment appear to be very similar to those they have read in the original.You will look at three different types of summaries: transitional, linking, and collecting.

What distinguishes paraphrasing from summarizing?

To paraphrase is to roughly repeat in your own language and at the same level of detail the ideas of someone else. To summarize is to condense into a briefer form the key ideas from another person’s work. How to Paraphrase Read the original text until you understand its meaning, then put it aside. Remember the key ideas or concepts and jot them down. Don’t copy the text word for word. Change the text’s structure by altering the opening, the sentence lengths and/or orders, the opening sentence, etc.Effective Paraphrases Have the Following Four Qualities: Originality—Your own unique words, phrases, and sentence structure should be used, not those from your source.The source of a paraphrase must also be mentioned. Material that has been paraphrased typically condenses a slightly wider segment of the original passage, making it shorter than the original. In order to summarize, you must rephrase the main idea(s) and only mention the main idea(s).Using different words and phrases to communicate the same ideas is known as paraphrasing. Short passages of text, such as phrases and sentences, are paraphrased. You can incorporate evidence and source material into assignments by using a paraphrase instead of a direct quotation.Read the source material several times to ensure that you fully comprehend it. Step two is to put the source material aside and write your paraphrase in your own words and sentence structure on a piece of paper or a notecard.

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THE SCHOOL OF COUNSELLING

3 Ways to Master Paraphrasing

Mastering Paraphrasing: 3 Key Techniques for Building Trust and Connection in Therapeutic Relationships

What is Paraphrasing?

Mastering paraphrasing is an essential skill for trainee counsellors. Paraphrasing is a form of rewording what the client has shared without losing the sense or meaning of what they are saying. It focuses on something that is significant for the client, or, as the counsellor or helper, you notice it as being significant for the client.

When applying active listening, there are many techniques we can use, and paraphrasing is just one of them. There is reflection, clarifying, and focusing. However, paraphrasing has an important role to play and can be incredibly powerful in enabling a therapeutic connection.

If we consider that a relationship between one person and another is started through connection, then paraphrasing is a demonstration of that connection. It is an integration of the client’s experience into our experience, which is then relayed back to them. While it may not seem evident, an exchange has taken place. This can be a useful and effective counselling skill, especially for those starting on a CPCAB level 2 counselling skills course.

#1 . Accuracy

It is critical to be as accurate as possible to the original intention, the meaning behind the client or helpee shared. This is important because it goes back to what I said above: it builds trust and shows you are actively listening to what the client or helpee is saying. Accuracy helps the client feel understood.

#2 . Neutrality

It is ideal that you keep your response as neutral and objective as possible. As counsellors or trainee counsellors, we are not looking to put our thoughts or feelings inside that paraphrase. As long as we are neutral, we provide the client a healthy and non-judgemental space which is essential to that therapeutic relationship.

#3 . Clarity

It cannot be underestimated that using clear and simple language is crucial to mastering this counselling skill. There is no reason to get florid or expand on loads of different ideas; keep the language simple. It is helpful as it shows the client you are paying close attention to what they are sharing, allowing them to feel understood.

Those are my three ways to improve your paraphrasing. Either in a therapeutic setting or in our day-to-day conversations, paraphrasing helps us connect and understand what the other person is going through. It radically improves your counselling skills and communication skills and forms a part of our CPCAB level 2 counselling skills course.

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