Is it important for a psychologist to have eye contact with the patient if so why ?

Question

Is it important for a psychologist to have eye contact with the patient if so why ?

Answer 1

Basically, being eye to eye gives the patient a "down to earth" level feel, and they express themselves more and can be more honest with you.  I am a social worker and have done crisis intervention on phone lines, and in person, and there is a significant difference. Being eye to eye lets the patient see the psychologist or social worker, and see how they are interested in helping them. 90% of how we communicate is with our actions. By a psychologist sitting down with a patient, showing great empathy with facial expressions and tone of voice, a patient can open up more, and want to share more with the psychologist. Over the phone, the patient opens up gradually as the conversation grows longer, and can detect a sense of trust. It is easier to help someone in person , eye to eye, because of the rate a person opens up and shares more information, which can be crucial for psychological diagnosis.  hope this helps

Answer 2

it probably is

i think it's just to get a sense of them

just to see how they're doing

and eye contact helps

because it's easier for them to understand you

if you look at them

instead just putting your head down

Answer 3

yes because by looking at the patient eyes you can

detect the way they feel.but also look at the physical

movement,it can answer alot of questions

Answer 4

It certainly didn't seem to be important to Freud, who NEVER looked people in the eye and who set up his therapy sessions so he wouldn't have to look at his patients by sitting behind them.

But Freud aside, yes it is important that a therapist should be able to look his/her clients/patients face to face. I leave it to you to discover the "whys."