Empathy Demonstration Transcript with Comments

Client: Hi, I am 18 years old. I’m here to speak to you that I’ve been having issue with my

father…and I am 18 years old and… I’ve been secretly dating this person for 6 months and… I

am having issue…and… convincing my dad to let me go out with this person. So, what should I

do? If there is anything I could say to him…

Therapist: So, you’re in a kind of situation, where you’re wanting to tell your dad, while, at

the same time you are not wanting to tell your dad.

Client: Yes, that’s how exactly I feel. I just don’t know if it is a perfect time to tell him or just

wait, keep waiting. I don’t know what to do.

Therapist: mm, I understand.

Client: So, this person is a very sweet person…this person, I am dating. My dad does not see it, I

wish he could. He really is a superreligious father, who wants his daughter just to follow his

path, but he just does not want to understand that I want to follow my own path… It is

complicated. I just don’t know what else to do. He has even spoken to this person I am dating

with (mm hmm). He does not offset other people…actually, if they’re not in the same religion.

Therapist: So that just makes it more complicated. I see.

Client: Yes. It is complicated. I don’t know if should tell him one day in person. Sit down and

tell him the truth. Or should I keep hiding it all time. I don’t know what it is right to do. That’s

what I’m scared: if somebody is walking behind my back and telling my dad – and I am super-

duper in trouble. He won’t let me go out anymore. Neither with my friends.

Therapist: uhh, I see…

Client: And I feel like I cannot do anything…Because he just wants to be overprotective. He

does not understand that I am already a grown up.

Therapist: I see, I see.

Client: And I don’t know what to say to my dad. Like, I’m scared. And I’m nervous, if I were to

tell him… (hmmm) And I want him to be happy too. Cause if I ought to be happy, that does not

make him happy. And if I do something that I don’t like – it is something that makes him happy.

He does not understand (okay…) the relationship between the daughter and a father (okay…)…

I feel like my happiness pretty much gone. I cannot do anything (okay…, I see). Well, I am

really scared to tell this to my dad. How I feel. I don’t know if I should tell him about it.

Therapist: So, you are in a dilemma, whether you should tell your dad what really is going

on. Or you should keep it a secret. You just feel like you’re trapped in this box and not

knowing what to do.

Client: I just really don’t know. I don’t understand. I don’t know if he is afraid of me to fall in

his own very old path, and I think he is afraid, probably… I don’t know what is holding him to…

holding down to not letting me just grow up. Cause in my age I have friends going out with

people. Even with random people. I don’t do that. I just want my father to let me go with that

one person. He is my first boyfriend.

Therapist: So, you’re just… I completely understand… It’s just a stage where you just

know that you’re going to ... just hang out and have a good time with this boyfriend of

yours.
 References

DeVito, J. A. (2002). The interpersonal communication reader. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Berman, P. (2019). Case conceptualization and treatment planning: integrating theory with

clinical practice. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Atwater, Eastwood (1981). I Hear You. Prentice-Hall. p. 83.