Question

Case Study Therapeutic Communication

1.​The psychiatric nurse is initiating an interview with Mr. Johnson. He is a 33-year-old male clientadmitted to the Behavioral Center with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. The nurse begins the interaction by saying, “What shall we talk about today?”

a.​Explain why this is an appropriate opening statement to initialize a clinical interview session.

b.​Why should the nurse use simple, concrete, and direct messages with the client?

Answer 1

a . It is an appropriate approach of the nurse to initate the conversation with the schizophrenic client as to , "What shall we talk about today ? " for the reasons below -

• It helps in revealing the thoughts of schizophrenic client without creating confusions as the question is simple and there isn't much ideas put into it. Usually , flight of ideas and thoughts is present in people with schizophrenia which becomes difficult sometimes to handle. It gives the client to express thoughts without ambiguity which is characteristic feature of schizophrenia.

b . Ambiguity being the feature of schizophrenia with flight of ideas and thoughts, it is always good to make the conversation simple, concrete and precise. This avoids confusion and prevents aggravation of schizophrenic symptoms incase the person is exposed to certain emotions which are related to certain words. This all explains the reason of using simple, concrete and direct questions to the schizophrenic client.

Thank you.