Confrontations
The thoughts, perceptions or feelings, which the counsellor conveys, always refer to that which the client is unaware of. By necessity, this means that such messages are not always comfortable for the client (otherwise the contents would not be unconscious). This has several consequences: firstly, it is important that the counsellor addresses issues, otherwise a reticence occasionally develops (also unconsciously by the counsellor) for delivering certain messages openly (see also <b>hier</b>). Secondly, it is important that the client then engages with this and that he is not able to simply push it aside. For this the counsellor requires authority, a contact-rich and valuing manner of addressing difficult subjects and ‘perseverance’. Thirdly, avoidance strategies in the handling of the person’s unconscious phenomena can frequently be studied by the rather defensive way in which clients handle the issues (“It is not that important!”, “You are the only one to tell me this!”, “We will talk about this another time!” etc.). Likewise, it is not important for the counsellor to be agreed with, because otherwise an unfavourable power struggle is created; instead, it is important to utilise the reaction to the confrontation!