General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How would you feel? [View all]BainsBane
(53,165 posts)invalidating someone's feelings. There are ideological connotations to whipping out the stats in the circumstances above, but if we think about it on an inter-personal level, it tells someone their feelings, their experiences, don't matter. That's why therapists teach active listening: you listen to the other person, hear what they have to say, and repeat some of it back and tell them you acknowledge how they feel. You don't tell them it's really not a crisis or even how to fix it (the latter comes later, after they ask for advice). So the above examples are a reflection of dysfunctional inter-personal relations, but when applied to social phenomenon they take on political meaning that is similar in that reaction serves to invalidate those experiences. Even if that is not the intent, it is the result.