Confrontation is scary for people in general because most of the time confrontation ends in a
nasty experience, anxiety levels get high, and the fight or flight reactions kicks in. According to
MacCluskie (2014), confrontation includes two parts. The first part is the counselor making an
observation of the undesirable “behavior, feelings, or perception” (pg.163) and second bringing
the “behavior, feelings, or perception” (pg.163) to the awareness of the client. If the client is
unaware of his or her own behaviors, feelings, or perception, it can lead to more than just
obliviousness; it can lead to these affecting the client’s mental; physical; work, family, and social
life. If the microskills of confrontation are not approached at the right time or done incorrectly
the ramifications can include (but not limited): harm the client/counselor relationship, have an
adverse effect on the client feeling that the counselor is unpathetic or not listening, set
counseling back, shut the client down, or inadvertently leave the client worse than when he
came to the counselor.
Because confrontation is looked at in dark light for most everyday persons, counselors must be
able to effectively confront the clients without causing more damage. For confrontation to be
effective the counselor must know if the timing is right, delivery an appropriate confrontation,
and be aware of his own response to the client’s response to the counselor’s confrontation.
The first aspect of confrontation is timing, is the client ready to be confronted with his or her conflicting
behavior, feelings or perception? In order for the counselor to know this they have to consider:
• The stage of counseling, how long have they been working together? A client walking through
your door of his or her own free will might be ready to make a change the first day of treatment
