How to focus on developing empathy for clients.
Suffering and Challenges of Psychiatric Conditions
This week, you will focus on developing empathy for clients’ suffering and challenges posed by psychiatric conditions. Health care clinician empathy is repeatedly linked to improved patient and client health outcomes, adherence to treatment recommendations, and satisfaction with care. As clinicians, it is easy to underestimate the daily struggles of clients and their families. It is also easy to become overwhelmed by these struggles, particularly when working with clients struggling with severe and persistent psychiatric conditions such as psychotic disorders. Significant symptoms such as auditory and visual hallucinations, paranoid ideation, and manic behaviors can make it very difficult to communicate with clients, and attending to self as therapist issues is a lifelong responsibility.
Unfortunately, a significant stigma surrounds psychiatric issues and there continues to be a lack of understanding of the genetic and biologic bases of these conditions. A very important role in your work as a health care provider to use best current evidence to reduce stigma, increase understanding of symptoms and to acknowledge the suffering these conditions cause both clients and their family members. Clients and families look to health care providers for understanding, information, and support. Recognizing the challenges clients face on a daily basis is a very important aspect of your work as a health care provider.
This week, you will participate in an empathy exercise and examine how this experience can inform your interactions with clients struggling with severe psychiatric symptoms.
Carefully review the week’s resources. You are expected to apply the information from these resources when you prepare your assignment.
Weekly Resources and Assignments
Review the resources from the Course Resources link, located in the top navigation bar, to prepare for this week’s assignments. The resources may include textbook reading assignments, journal articles, websites, links to tools or software, videos, handouts, rubrics, etc.
Redshelf Textbook
AATBS National MFT Course Materials-2022
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List of Topics and Sub-Modules for Week 2
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AATBS National MFT Course Materials-2022
External Learning Tool
AATBS National MFT Course Materials-2022
Read the Assessment & Diagnosis materials related to Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders: pages 31-33.
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Week 2 Assignment: Recognize the Challenges of Suffering from Psychiatric Conditions
Discussion Topic
For this assignment, you will complete both of the following:
· Listen to one of your favorite songs while simultaneously listening to the Auditory Hallucinations – An Audio Representation, found in the Books and Resources for this Week.
· Find a family member or friend with whom you will have a conversation while simultaneously listening to the Auditory Hallucinations – An Audio Representation, found in the Books and Resources for this Week.
After listening to the auditory hallucination simulation, write a discussion post (maximum of 500 words) to describe your experience and identify ways you will apply this experience in your clinical care of clients suffering from psychiatric conditions.
In your discussion post answer the following questions and include information from a minimum of two scholarly references:
2. What was the most challenging aspect of the exercises? (one to two paragraphs) (2 points)
2. How could you use your learnings from this experience in clinical encounters with clients struggling with psychotic symptoms? (3 points)
4. How might you acknowledge the hallucinations the client is experiencing? (one to two paragraphs)
4. How could you attend to a client’s comfort while interviewing them? (one to two paragraphs)
2. How could you genuinely communicate your empathy to a client experiencing auditory hallucinations? (one to two paragraphs)(2 points)
Length: 500 words
Resources: A minimum of two scholarly references must be used to support the points in the discussion post.
Your post should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards. Be sure to adhere to Northcentral University’s
AATBS National MFT Course Materials-2022
Read the Assessment & Diagnosis materials related to Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders: pages 31-34.
Access your Redshelf book in the Getting Started module of the course. Please note that the
AATBS National MFT Course Materials are contained within a bundled package labeled “Marriage and Family Therapy National Licensing Exam Prep (MFT), 2022”. Once this resource is opened in a PDF, click Contents in the upper right-hand corner of the PDF and navigate to the section entitled
MFT NA Assessment 2022.
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Auditory Hallucinations’- An Audio Representation
Wale, J. (2011, June 13). Auditory Hallucinations – An Audio Representation.
This audio will be used for Week 4’s assignment.
Flickinger, T. E., Saha, S., Roter, D., Korthuis, P. T., Sharp, V., Cohn, J., Beach, M. C. (2016). Communication study: Clinician empathy is associated with differences in patient-clinician communication behaviors and higher medication self-efficacy in HIV care.
Patient Education and Counseling, 99, (2), 220-226.
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Heightening levels of compassion towards self and others through use of compassionate mind training
Beaumont, E., & Martin, C. J. H. (2016). Heightening levels of compassion towards self and others through use of compassionate mind training.
British Journal of Midwifery, 24(11), 777-786.
Longmire, N. H., & Harrison, D. A. (2018). Seeing their side versus feeling their pain: Differential consequences of perspective-taking and empathy at work.
Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(8), 894–915.
