In practical psychology silence is often used as a great way to focus on the patient discussed topic on individual feelings, emotions, feelings. Or, in some cases, sympathy, condolences, support.
Long silence interlocutor may also be a sign of anxiety or confusion. During a short silence a person can simply look appropriate in this case the words to continue the story (or just to avoid saying too much). Sometimes during silence people value what you said earlier, trying to draw conclusions and to analyze the resulting speculation.
Often silence indicates that will be followed by significant and necessary in this situation, the question. Consequently, the silence allows the person to focus, to talk the most productive and possibly take important decisions for themselves.
One of the most important non-verbal communication, which is very effectively used by many psychologists - is the observance of the pauses in the conversation. Pause - is to provide the other party the opportunity to speak, to express their opinion on the subject under discussion. If present in the conversation pause, then a person is really interested, he considers his thoughts and may be trying to direct the conversation back on track. Also pause - it is an opportunity to supplement or clarify the above at some point. Very often people need a long pause in order to assess the current situation in the conversation and take appropriate action.
Each pause in the conversation has its own value. So, in the disputed and controversial moments of conversation, even a slight pause may mean that communication was stalled. However, it was during a pause can be found and options out of the situation. It is believed that a good psychologist must necessarily be fluent in and use non-verbal communication such as pauses and silences, as it is one of the best ways to bring the patient out of the complex mental states.