Hello , dear therapist , and welcome back to our podcast here at Licensure Exams . I'm your host , Dr Linton Hutchinson , and this is the Queen of Questions , Stacey Frost .
Hey there everybody . Whether you're in between sessions with clients commuting to your next appointment or baking a batch of therapeutic brownies hashtag self-care we're glad that you're tuning in with us . Our podcast is dedicated to helping you stay sharp , informed and confident in the days leading up to exam day , and we've got a special treat for you .
Today We'll be talking about an important yet often overlooked and equally terrifying to many therapists the electrifying skill of therapeutic silence .
That's right , Stacey . Many therapists forget that one of the most powerful tools in their toolkit is simply learning how to be comfortable With silent and allowing it to fill up a room and create space for growth and reflection .
I hear you , so you may think that you need to say something all the time , but this can actually put a lot of pressure not only on you as a therapist , but your clients as well . So it's really important to learn how to simply be present with your client in the moment without feeling like either of you have to be talking all the time .
Absolutely . You know , therapeutic silence can be used for reflection , providing space for your clients and allowing them to process their thoughts , feelings and Stacey . Are you there ?
Yep , I'm here just giving you an example of what it feels like to invoke therapeutic silence . It is way harder than you think to just sit with a client quietly , not saying anything , talking the whole time , kind of like in a therapy session . So , linton , did it work ? Did you have any revelations during the silence ?
Well , actually you know , now that you mention it , it triggered a memory of an experiment that I did like years ago with Sterling when we were at a traffic light . Did I ever tell you about that , stacey ?
I'm guessing it was at the traffic light near Publix .
Actually it was . So I'm with Sterling , my daughter , in the car and we're stopped at a traffic light . Sterling has a clipboard , paper and pen and a stopwatch .
She quickly turns around in her seat and makes note of the driver's age and sex and after a few seconds , of course , the light turns green and we , as you guessed , sterling and I we just sit there and wait and wait and wait , with the stopwatch keeping track of the time since the light turned green , but before too long , and actually , if you were male in
your 20s , quite quickly the car's horn behind us started to blast out in their frustration of having to wait when the light was already green .
Ugh , just hearing this story makes me uncomfortable . Sitting at a green traffic light is a high-stakes situation . Each second feels like years . I don't know if you knew it at the time , Linton , but you were taking your life in your hands that day , my friend .
Well , just like sitting still at a green traffic light , as uncomfortable as it may seem at first , learning to be comfortable with silence can be incredibly powerful in the therapy session . So when you and your client are comfortable sitting in silence , it creates room for self-reflection , deeper self-exploration and opens the door for creative problem-solving .
Well , that definitely makes a lot of sense . So how do you know when to use therapeutic silence ? I mean , there's a time for talking and there's a time to be quiet , so how do you know the difference ?
It's all about your own timing as a therapist and the context . So if a client is stuck on a particular problem and needs some time to process their thoughts or feelings , then it might be the time for therapeutic silence Rather than , as a lot of us will do , just jump in and rescue the client and solve their problem for them .
Have you got any examples ? Sure .
Say , you have a client who moved away from her family and all of her friends to someplace up north . You've built a strong report with her and now you're working with her to process her feelings , not only about her loss but about the wonderful opportunities that lay ahead .
Sounds a little familiar . But okay , I'm going with you so far . I want to see where this winds up .
Okay , let's say that during the last session that you had with the client , that they seem to continually stop in mid-sentence and they're not able to express actually what they're feeling or what's on their mind .
At first you probably have the urge to go ahead and step in and offer a solution or personal insight , but this is actually the best time for you to take a break , take a breath , sit back and let the sound of silence fill the air .
You'll know that it's working because you'll start to feel uncomfortable , sort of the same way you feel when you're in an elevator and no one is talking .
Oh , I know exactly that situation . All right , Linton . Well , you're not talking about my recent move to Michigan , are you ? That seemed a little close to home . Well , anyway , the idea is that you're giving the client time and space to gain clarity on their thoughts and feelings so that they can actually put those into words .
That's right . A few moments of silence can be really powerful and often leads to deeper insights , rather than you keep yacking on and on . So next time you're tempted to fill silence with words , let your client sit with their thoughts first . You may just be really surprised at the revelations that come out when both of you stop talking .
Okay . So to sum it up , therapeutic silence is a powerful technique that you can use in therapy to create space for reflection , insight and emotional processing .
You got it and remember . It's not about just staying quiet . It's about using silence effectively , understanding when and how to introduce it for the benefit of the client .
Well said , Linton . And on that note , it is time for us to go silent as we wrap up today's episode .
Well , good luck with your studies and , as we always say , remember it's .
In there .
In there .