Why are communication skills important to discuss?
• Improving communication skills can reduce the level of frustration and stress in the family and can facilitate healthy interactions. • When caregivers of mentally ill patients are asked about their concerns, they often report significant worry about the high level of stress in the household and the nature of the relationships within the family unit (Pollio, North & Foster, 1998). • As caregivers learn to better understand the ways in which mentally ill individuals think and process information, communication can improve. • Being able to communicate and genuinely trying to understand each other’s feelings can be very meaningful: • “The most healing gift you can give to someone in pain is the awareness that you are honestly trying to understand what they are going through, even if you get it wrong.” (Hudson, 1999, p. 37) • Research has revealed that families who learn and use good communication skills can significantly reduce the amount of time that the patient is likely to spend in th
