79. "Am I making myself clear to you?"

"Am I understanding you? Am I making myself clear to you? The technique of repeating back what the other person has said ("I hear you saying that you're dissapointed I wanted to leave the party early"), while it sounds so simple-minded it's subject to caricature, is the place to start. It's really an excercise in developing empathy."

From "Undoing Depression" by Richard O'Connor, Ph.D., Berkley Books, New York