Elements of Therapeutic Communication

Understanding and Empathy

Understanding is a vital element in the development of a therapeutic relationship in mental health nursing. Both patients ([213]) and nurses ([3]) value the ability of mental health nurses to convey understanding. Conveying understanding is important as it instils patients with a sense of importance ([14]). Feeling important is significant to the lives of people who live in a society, which often stigmatizes them because of their mental illness ([15]). Notably when the nurse knows and understands the patient, the nurse assists patients to understand themselves ([16]), empowering them to influence their treatment ([13]). Consequently knowing the patient promotes individualized care ([6]).

Active listening is considered to be one of the core elements of understanding ([1517]). To fully apply listening to convey understand the psychiatric/mental health nurse must not only hear the patient but also be attending and attentive. Accordingly, Johannson and Eklund ([13]) determined when psychiatric/mental health nurses gave proper attention and appeared interested, patients felt understood. Needless to say interpersonal and communication techniques such as summarizing, clarifying, reflecting, and providing eye contact are considered essential to understand and relate to the patient ([15]).

In addition to the skill of listening to understand the patient accurately, the psychiatric/mental health nurse must appreciate the unique communication, problems and situation of the patient ([1316]). To truly understand the uniqueness of each situation psychiatric/mental health nurse must go beyond what is expected of most other health professionals to attain an in-depth personal knowledge of the patient ([15]). As noted by Geanellos ([18]) rather than simply containing “testing” and “acting out” behaviour, the psychiatric/mental health nurse must look beyond the obvious and strive to understand and ascribe meaning to the behaviour. The in-depth knowledge...