Therapeutic Use of Self: Communication and Alliance in Healthcare

This essay delves into the therapeutic use of self, emphasizing the critical role of therapeutic alliance in achieving desired outcomes in psychological therapy. It highlights the significance of forming personal bonds, establishing agreement on tasks, and aligning treatment goals between patient and therapist. The essay explores essential communication skills, including verbal and non-verbal techniques, active listening, and treating every client equally. It then examines the components of motivational interviewing (MI), such as spirit, principles, and skills, and their relationship to creating a therapeutic alliance. The essay further discusses the practical application of these skills in current and future healthcare practice, emphasizing the importance of positive attitudes, careful listening, and motivational interviewing techniques. It concludes by reiterating the importance of effective communication in developing therapeutic alliances and utilizing all elements of motivational interviewing to foster strong patient-therapist relationships. The essay references several studies to support its claims.

THERAPEUTIC USE
OF SELF 2

Introduction
● Therapeutic alliance is necessary for
achieving desired outcome in
psychological therapy.
● Forming personal bonds is a key element
in therapeutic alliance.
● Other elements are agreement on tasks
and agreements on goals of treatment.
● This alliance is formed when both patient
and therapist share beliefs regarding
goals of treatment.

Communication skills required for developing a
therapeutic alliance with a client of healthcare
● Good verbal communication skill is
required to greet customers and to
make them understand the treatment
process (Mack, Breckon, Butt &
Maynard, 2017).
● Non-verbal communication skills help
to write down the clients’
understanding of the information
shared to them.
● Communication skills include good
listening skills and treating every
client equally during communication
(Kay-Lambkin, Baker, Palazzi, Lewin
& Kelly, 2017).

Components of motivational interview (MI)
• Spirit is a major component of MI, which
is the context upon which different
techniques are employed (Brun-Cottan,
McMillian & Hastings, 2018).
• Principles of MI is another component
that includes expression of empathy,
supporting self-efficacy, development of
discrepancy and rolling with resistance.
• Skills are an essential component that
includes asking questions, providing
affirmations, reflective listening and
making summaries.

Relation of the components of motivational interview to
creation of therapeutic alliance
● Elements of ‘spirit’ like collaboration
can be used to form a therapeutic
alliance between patient and therapist
(Harris & Panozzo, 2019).
● Principle of expressing empathy can
help therapists to view the problem
from the patient's eyes, which facilitates
therapeutic alliance.
● Skills like asking open-ended questions
can facilitate communication, which is
important for therapeutic alliance.

Incorporation of mentioned skills in the current and
future practice
● Students will need to communicate
with patients regularly with a positive
attitude.
● They need to listen carefully to patients
to understand their issues and their
understanding of information shared to
them (Chichirez & Purcărea, 2018).
● Conversations with the patients need to
be in the form of motivational
interviews.

Conclusion
● It can be concluded having effective
communication skills can help to
develop therapeutic alliances.
● Listening carefully to patients can help
therapists to feel that their opinions
are valuable.
● It is important to use all elements of
motivational interview to develop a
good relationship between patients
and therapists.

Reference list
Allen, M. L., Lê Cook, B., Carson, N., Interian, A., La Roche, M., & Alegría, M. (2017). Patient-provider therapeutic
alliance contributes to patient activation in community mental health clinics. Administration and Policy in Mental Health
and Mental Health Services Research, 44(4), 431-440. Retrieved from:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5735851/
Brun-Cottan, N., McMillian, D., & Hastings, J. (2018). Defending the art of physical therapy: Expanding inquiry and
crafting culture in support of therapeutic alliance. Physiotherapy theory and practice, 1-10. Retrieved from:
https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=ptsymposium
Chichirez, C. M., & Purcărea, V. L. (2018). Interpersonal communication in healthcare. Journal of medicine and life, 11(2),
119. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6101690/
Harris, B. A., & Panozzo, G. (2019). Therapeutic alliance, relationship building, and communication strategies-for the
schizophrenia population: An integrative review. Archives of psychiatric nursing, 33(1), 104-111. Retrieved from:
https://www.psychiatricnursing.org/article/S0883-9417(18)30184-5/fulltext
Kay-Lambkin, F. J., Baker, A. L., Palazzi, K., Lewin, T. J., & Kelly, B. J. (2017). Therapeutic alliance, client need for
approval, and perfectionism as differential moderators of response to eHealth and traditionally delivered treatments for
comorbid depression and substance use problems. International journal of behavioral medicine, 24(5), 728-739.
Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12529-017-9676-x
Mack, R., Breckon, J., Butt, J., & Maynard, I. (2017). Exploring the understanding and application of motivational
interviewing in applied sport psychology. The Sport Psychologist, 31(4), 396-409. Retrieved from:
http://shura.shu.ac.uk/16282/1/Mack%20Exploring%20the%20Understanding%20and%20Application%20of%20Motivat
ional%20Interviewing.pdf