The Use of Interpersonal Communication in Therapy: Case Studies of Therapeutic Relationships in the PGH Psychiatry Department

Abstract

Communication that is employed for healing purposes is identified as therapeutic communication. There have been studies regarding therapeutic communication, but no exploration on actual therapeutic communication to situations exists. Thus, this study intends determine the use of interpersonal communication in a health-service organization. As such, it aims to answer this question: How is interpersonal communication used by doctors and patients in the Philippine General Hospital’s Psychiatry Department? In doing so, the researcher specifically intends to answer the following questions: (1) What are the demographic profiles of the five therapists?; (2) What are the demographic profiles of the 15 patients? What are their reasons for seeking therapy?; (3) What interpersonal communication skills were used by the therapist and the client in the different stages of therapeutic communication?; and (4) What are the doctor-patient relationship orientations in the these stages of therapeutic communication? This multidisciplinary study of communication seeks to determine the interpersonal communication patterns in 15 therapeutic relationships through a descriptive-exploratory approach. The profiles of the therapists and three of their patients were obtained through a researcher’s guide, which inquired about their demographic backgrounds and the patients’ diagnoses. The actual therapeutic communication sessions were then observed, documented, organized and interpreted to identify the use of interpersonal communication skills and the pattern of doctor-patient relationship orientations. The five 26 to 30 year-old female therapists handled patients diagnosed to have psychotic and non-psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, psychotic anxiety disorders, sleep problems, adjustment disorders, bipolar behavior and major depression. In these relationships, various interpersonal skills were employed: with the therapists mostly giving information on the nature of the psychiatric disorders, brain functioning, medical background and types and qualities of the medicines, and complemented these with positive talk through which they built a personal relationship; while the patients played the role of information-givers regarding their objective conditions, perceptions of their illnesses, and information on their biological and behavioral symptoms, but also complemented these with social conversation by engaging in casual conversation, giving of personal and social remarks, discussing non-medical statements, showing courtesy, and greeting. In all these therapeutic relationships observed, a combination of task and socio-emotional orientations were used. On the whole therefore, the therapists and patients used interpersonal communication skills such as information-giving, positive talk and social conversation and a combination of the task and socio-emotional orientations of the doctor-patient relationship.