The Nature of Emotional Support

摘要

An attempt is made to elaborate a view of emotional support. It is held that efficiency depends on a belief or confidence in the sharing of one's goals with a quiet, contented but attentive other, who is capable of solving all difficulties and who is positioned close at hand to the side or rear, and that during maturation the ability to withhold validating the belief gradually increases. It follows that the support offered by therapists and supervisors is inversely related to the number and difficulty of the tasks they are perceived to be engaged in, the number of explicit and implicit demands they make, their lack of consistency, and other ways in which they fail to conform to this ideal.