Paraphrasing is the skill of hearing what the client is expressing and restating it in your own words to reflect the meaning back to them. This confirms that you’ve understood their experience accurately and shows you’re attuned to what they’re going through. It’s a concrete way to communicate perception and invites the client to confirm or correct your understanding, which helps build trust and ensure you’re on the same page. Active listening is the broader process of giving full attention and responding in ways that encourage the client to continue, which includes paraphrasing as one technique. Empathy focuses on recognizing and resonating with the client’s feelings, often expressed through statements about how their experience is affecting them. Probing involves asking questions to gather more information.

Storming is the phase where groups experience friction as members push against boundaries and test who has influence. In this stage, power struggles and questions about leadership and roles surface, with individuals jockeying for position and trying to shape how the group operates. The leader’s task is to manage these conflicts in a way that keeps everyone safe and the group on track. That means setting clear norms, facilitating open and respectful communication, addressing disruptive behavior, and helping the team clarify roles and decision-making processes. When these conflicts are navigated effectively, the group can move toward greater cohesion and collaboration in the next stage.

Cohesiveness describes the sense of groupness, closeness, acceptance, and belonging within a therapy group. It captures how strongly members feel connected to one another and to the group as a whole. When cohesiveness is high, people are more likely to participate openly, support each other, and trust the process, which creates a safe climate for sharing, feedback, and growth. This shared bond helps the group function effectively and can boost engagement and therapeutic outcomes because members feel seen, valued, and part of a common purpose. Empathy is the ability to understand another’s feelings, which supports interactions but isn’t the same as the overall group bond. Social integration refers to fitting into a wider social context beyond the group, not the SAMPLEintra-group unity. Group belonging is related but the established term for the strong, unified sense within the therapy group is cohesiveness.

Countertransference is the analyst's own emotional reaction to the patient that is triggered by past relationships. Therapists may notice feelings such as anxiety, attraction, anger, or protectiveness arising in session, rooted in their own history rather than the patient's current behavior. This is different from transference, where the patient unconsciously projects feelings about important figures onto the therapist, whereas in countertransference the source is the therapist's internal world. Projection involves attributing one's own unacceptable thoughts or impulses to others, and identification means taking on someone else's characteristics or roles. Recognizing countertransference is important for maintaining boundaries and using supervision to reflect on one's reactions and ensure the patient’s needs remain the focus.

Focusing on the here and now emphasizes being fully present in the current moment rather than dwelling on the past. This approach guides attention to what a person is thinking, feeling, sensing, and experiencing in the present, helping them respond to what’s happening now rather than getting caught up in previous events. It aligns with mindfulness-based and present-centered strategies that cultivate present-moment awareness and reduce rumination. Past experiences would center on what happened before, which shifts focus away from the current moment. Future goals look ahead to plans and expectations rather than immediate experience. Dream interpretation concentrates on the symbolic meaning of dreams, not the person’s current lived experience.