Calling earth to major Tom! Are you connected?

One of the major communication changes since the late 1990s is the development of the Internet, social media and mobile technology all of which has changed expectations with how communication happens. The downside of this change is that technology doesn't provide a key factor when communicating with others: empathy. Empathy is necessary to make an emotional connection with the person we are communicating with.

The erosion of a growing social disconnection and consequent breakdown of personal relationships is  on the increase and a growing problem in our society. Society is 'you' and 'me' and only exists through communication with others in real time. An increasing loss of quality real time in relationships means that attention is going elsewhere: into an addiction with technology, sometimes compounded with delusional ideas of others and situations linked to eating disorders, drug and alcohol addiction.

Have you ever expressed a problem to a friend, colleague or family member and felt they weren't emotionally engaged with your feelings, or felt that you struggle to be emotionally understood and supported by your partner? Or, that you find it difficult or impossible to enter into another's feeling experience? If you can relate to these examples, you either experience a lack of empathy from others, or you find it difficult to engage emphatically towards them. Empathy is different to sympathy: in the former, there is an ability to enter into the feelings of another without becoming emotionally involved. Sympathy, on the other hand, is a state of emotional involvement which often involves advice giving, which is usually ignored!

As a psychotherapist of couples and individuals, I see clients who tell me stories of family estrangement when relationships break down with one or more family members, often due to a lack of empathy of others' feelings or a different perception of a situation. A good example is young adults who often have insufficient skills in communicating and expressing feelings and social expectations that are often at odds with their parents.   

Rocky relationships

When I counsel couples I ask them the four C's how they show Care, how they Connect, Communicate and how Committed they are to the relationship. If only one the four C's is difficult, it tells me that the fourth C - Connection - will be difficult, even non-existent. If the four C's relate to society then the four C's relate to emotional intelligence, understanding and an allowance for difference. 

Many couples and individuals have lost the ability to know how to connect, perhaps because of pressured commitments with career and family life. The result of the pace and stress of life today means that there is more and more reliance on technology to communicate when real time being with those we care about feels thin on the ground. Sadly, some never learnt how to communicate with empathy, good listening skills, eye contact, sensitivity and respect for others because their family didn't know 'how to'. Family patterns of behaviour and expectations run through generations in families - and no-one is immune to the contamination of negative patterns, as well as the affirming positive patterns.

Social awareness

It is a truism to say that we cannot give what we haven't received. If you weren't listened to, emotionally engaged with or given time to develop emotional intimacy with parents as a child, it is likely you experience a psychological gap in contacting your own emotional needs and as a result, the needs of others.

The baseline here is that if a child isn't listened to by parents, relatives, their peer group and teachers, with respect, empathy, kindness, taught self-discipline and shown by example by all of these groups how to be self-responsible, then how can they, as adults, offer these qualities to themselves or others?The result of this absence of social awareness is that as adults, relationships will be problematic with the emphasis on self-gratification - a narcissistic attitude that creates a narcissistic society. 'Selfies', and an obsession with technology above talking to family members, friends and others in real time,  causes social isolation, loneliness, depression, anxiety, addictions (technology is an addiction as much as alcohol or drug abuse) personality disorders, psychosis and suicide. 

Counselling and psychotherapy offers a route to rehabilitation from emotional disconnection towards a healthy ability to engage emphatically, firstly with the counsellor, as she herself engages with you, the client, with empathy. Slowly, emotional intimacy connects and engages with empathic awareness of others emotional pain.

Through counselling and psychotherapy clients undertake a journey and learn how to connect and learn, maybe for the first time in the their life, how to care, communicate and commit to others through listening, being with the person in real time, making eye contact and picking up the clues of body language, voice modality and sense of the person. In this way, counselling and psychotherapy pave the way to forming happier, healthier relationships with increased self-confidence and self-belief.

Through counselling and psychotherapy you can learn how to become a sociable, confident and supportive individual. The pay-off? You, as the listener, feel connected to the person you are with - not in imagining who they are, in a virtual world, but in real time, right here, right now.

Make a note how reading this article left you feeling, then send me feedback - sorry it's cyber-space - but you can always meet me in real-time, to learn 'how to' connect and share your feelings and begin your journey with developing the four C's.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author. All articles published on Counselling Directory are reviewed by our editorial team.

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