Psychotherapy
An important guideline in assessing a client's affective response in facing a problem is to expand and elaborate on his/her affect. This means that the therapist should give the client an opportunity to explore their feelings further. This strategy allows the client to understand his/her previous behavior, and adopt a new one, which will enable him/her to recover from feelings of pain and disappointment concerning a particular undertaking s/he had experienced. Taking away the pain must adopt a similar strategy explained earlier, wherein the client allows various feelings be felt within him/her, letting these emotions be the channels through which s/he can start shifting from having negative to positive emotions/feelings. Responding in an empathic manner is a complicated task to undertake, which is why it is important for the therapist to take control of the client and firmly encourage the client to make a decision or take an action that shall be productive for his/her emotional being. Lastly, interpersonal communication between the therapist and the client through a technique called, "change from the inside out," will result to effective therapy especially when the therapist is tasked to re-experience the intensity of the pain that s/he feels.
2. Psychotherapists, like their clients, confront obstacles that inhibit him/her from becoming an effective 'guide' to the client. Countertransference actions occur when psychotherapists feel the pressure to be liked by the client, there is fear that the client may misperceive his/her responsibility as therapist, and personal factors affecting the therapist's conduct of his/her profession. Should these countertransference actions happen, it is advised that therapists must also seek help from a therapist, since it is expected that s/he knows how to confront this problem. Thus, seeking help from another therapist is one way of acknowledging the changes that occur within him/her more than being a therapist, but also as an individual.
