Gary’s Counseling Session

Gary is a white male who was approximately 20-25 years old when he was filmed by a psychologist during a therapy session. During the interview, Gary’s body language described that he did not want to be there with the psychologist nor did his therapist try to engage him in any compassionate way. The overall feeling of the session was indifference on the therapist’s part, while Gary resisted all probing questions that the psychologist could muster. This is seen in Gary’s affect: his answers were not congruent with his demeanor. Both Gary and the therapist dysfunctional use of emotional masking keeps their feeling hid from one another. There were many talking points which the therapist could have built a relationship, but did not. Similarly, there were many tactics in which the therapist could have used, caring being one of them, but did not. Essentially, the therapist’s approach to Gary session left much to be desired.
According to Gary’s body language, he was not happy. His body language screamed that he was there to appease his parents. With dark rings under his eyes and consistent lack of eye contact, Gary seemed to be saying that he felt humiliated to be made to go to the therapist’s office. His affect told the viewer that he felt negatively towards this intrusion on his private world. From Gary’s verbal communication, one can ascertain that he was a big introvert who greatly wanted to be left alone. Looking from side to side, Gary seemed to be evading the psychologist’s scrutiny: there seemed to be a lack of trust. There was nothing in interest in the questions that the therapist asked, nor did it seem that the therapist wanted a relationship with Gary. Additionally, the therapist showed that did not like Gary; ...

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...feelings is through his affect not matching the words that he uses. During the session, both Gary and the therapist seem to be emotionally guarded from exposing themselves. Gary also shows his mistrust and ambivalence towards the therapist by using the briefest and guarded communication in answering the therapist’s questions. By contrast, the therapist shows that he does not want to counsel Gary by establishing a coarse relationship with him based on empathy failure and rounds of uncomfortable questions. There were many ways that the therapist could have shown that he was on Gary’s level, in order to have Gary open up, in which he did not take advantage. In doing so, the counselor did not lift Gary’s stigma of seeing a psychologist, but rather, reinforced it. This lack of positive interaction in the session will probably keep Gary from coming back again.