Communication Tools for Diagnostic Therapy

In order to exchange various ideas and thoughts between the two more individuals, some modes of communications are generally applied. While verbal exchange is the most common mode of communication, there are other communication methods as well like written communication, presentation and others. In addition to idea exchange, communication can also be used for several other purposes that include business interactions, learning processes, diagnostic therapy and others. Of all these uses, the one discussed in this particular assignment is diagnostic therapy using communication tools. Some of the communication tools discussed include questionnaires, interviews, Johari window and others. All these communications tools have been found to be effective for diagnostic therapy of individuals and children who require communication support for development or therapy.

In this particular assignment, the application of communication tools in the diagnosis and therapy of mental patients and children have been analyzed and discussed.

There are certain communication tools that have been effectively used by therapists for aiding the mental patients as well as the children who require certain amount of attention for personal development. Some of these tools are discussed as follows.

Johari Window: It is a “diagnostic communication tool” introduced by Harrington Ingham and Joseph Luft and thus, it was named as ‘Johari’. It has been generally practiced for the individuals who realized that improvement or backup is needed in their relationship with others. This technique of diagnostic includes four quadrants including Façade, Arena, Unknown and Blind Spot enlisting the adjectives those need to be considered while having a communication or not having a communication. After enlisting, the most considerable adjectives will be chosen that will describe the therapy objective of the individual. From different sets of the adjectives, the participant and his or her peers will be selecting the adjectives. The identified adjectives will be filled in the quadrants as per the priority after the completion of the selection process. After making the arrangement of the adjectives, the subject will be able to learn about the chosen adjectives based on his or her peers and thus they would be able to realize the different perspective of their own thinking that was not up to the mark for themselves. Thus, it can be described as a self-realization therapy that is applicable for the individuals with mental health problem and who are not able to recognize themselves and about their character. It is also applicable for the children in manner to enhance their self-confidence and enhance their moral through recognizing them about their character and behavior.

Johari Window

Assertive Interviews: It is other diagnostic communication tool, which is applied to the individuals who are not able to express their feelings and thoughts in open manner. It is a crucial objective that these individuals need strong pressure or assertion in manner to express their feelings and expressions in frank manner. Very easy manners of interview can be an effective way for interviewing these individuals such as questionnaire or oral interview for getting respond of the individuals on his or her point of perspective. It is a method of getting respond of the individuals on the topic through asking assertive questions related to him or her and this question and answers would be a helpful measure for the therapy. Present situation of the individual is a concerning factor while discovering the questions and assertiveness level of those questions. Generally, this technique is used in the interrogation process where strong assertion is used to make the criminals talk about the scenes.

Talking Therapy: Similar to above this is another “diagnostic tool” that is applicable for everyone and it can be used as a therapy to make people talk even in the domestic environment. It is a simple questioning technique with the intention of making people talk to the therapist. It can be described as counseling where therapist make the participant talk and provide them opportunity to express the issues being faced by them in the real world.

Communication Style Questionnaire: It is a communication tool that is used for diagnosing the people about their own personality through questioning a series of the questions in the form of the questionnaire. Therapy will be executed according to the answers provided by the participant and considering the cases of the answers provided by the participant. These answers will be helpful for the therapist in evaluating and analyzing the mental condition of the individual. The questionnaires involved in the questionnaire could be either aggressive or passive. The aggressive question will be digging out the desires of the individual whereas, the passive question will be helpful in collecting the general information.

Strength Cards: this therapy is in general applicable for the children in manner to identify the mental and personal growth of them and contribute in the development of their personal character. Cards have been selected on which strengths has been indicated on each card and the pictorial presentation will be provided on the basis of animals. Tutors and parents of the children have been assigned with the cards and children are asked to collect the card and thus determine the strength of the child. If the strength has been identified quickly, the executives would be able to perform much better activities in manner to enhance the personality of the child.

Assertive Interviews

The methods, tools, and therapy mentioned in the above paragraphs are capable of enhancing the personal traits and behavior of the individuals however, there are certain drawbacks and issues related with these therapies that are capable of affecting the efficiency of these therapies. Following are the two issues that could be a communication barrier in these therapy:

Language Barrier: Language could one of the biggest obstacle in the path of the successful execution of these personality therapies. There are the possibilities and many cases in which the individual and the therapist would not be able to share the views and recommendation about the therapy if there is any language barrier between the therapist and the subject. Another obstacle is the people living in the rural areas where the individuals might not have successful English practices that could be hardest moment for the execution of the therapy with those individuals. The only solution for this issue is using a single language that could be understood by everyone and thus execute the opted adjectives of the therapy. Translation software could be another option for this problem and could be an effective way to translate between the participant and the therapist.

Unwillingness to Cooperate: Some of the individuals might not feel free or try to communicate with the therapist that could lead to less understanding on the subject and thus further action could not be executed in an effective manner. There are many situations in which an individual might not try to be free to explain his or her feelings and thus the therapist would not be able to understand the subject wholly. The solution of this problem is to make good relationship with the subject and use very simple language with the subject. Starting with personal questions and general information through eye contacting could be a possible measure of the problem. This situation could be helpful in ensuring the proper therapy for eliminating the problems and barriers.

Dolan (2017) in his works stated that communication therapy is easier to apply when the subject cooperates with the therapist and willingly seeks the help of communication therapy. For this purpose, there are several communication techniques available including Johari window, assertive interviews and others that aim to help the subjects in rediscovering their own characters and gain confidence to overcome mental problems. Some of the diagnostic tools have also been effectively applied on subjects who are under drug abuse or emotional problems. On the other hand, diagnostic tools like strength cards are effectively used by various kindergarten and lower schools for the personal development of the children.

Talking Therapy

However, Bramhall (2014) said that for certain subjects who are not willing to respond to the therapy process, application of the diagnostic tool is much more difficult. It requires months of conviction and assertion to finally open up the subject who will then share the problems and challenges faced by them mentally and emotionally. For these subjects, regular communication modes do not work even though their peers and the therapists try to convince them to share views and problems. For this particular problem, Heinrich et al. (2016) suggested the use of assertive type interviews that uses application of certain amount of pressure through the use and choice of questions. With the application of assertion, the subject may start to feel vulnerable and finally cooperate with the therapist. Bahadori, Shiri & Mahdizade (2015) suggested the application of interactive softwares for the purpose of convincing the subject in opening up to the therapist. In this process, there is no verbal interaction between the therapist and the subject. Using the interactive software, the therapist enters some questions with some choices of answers (generally three to four) and the subject is required to enter the interactive session at a certain time. During this session, the software displays the list of questions and their answerable options to the subjects. Berland and Berland (2017) argued that this process will be much easier since most people are vulnerable to interaction in virtual media than face to face communication.

Thomson et al. (2015) stated that effective communication is the communication process that requires the application of a proper technique that is needed by both the communicator as well as the reader. There are certain attributes in the communication process which requires to be fulfilled for the purpose of exchanging the ideas between the participants that requires to be successful. This attributes generally includes the language, assertion, nature of idea communicated and many more. According to the author there is no effective communication unless and until the attributes are satisfied. According to Sonntag et al. (2016), the most important part of the effective communication is not language. There is a need of doing the communication process in the same language so as to make the language understandable by both the communicator who are involved in the intermediate medium which will be helping in the communication of ideas and translating in a language which will be understandable by the recipient.

Communication Style Questionnaire

The work of Delerue and Sicotte (2017) helps in understanding the fact that communication helps in providing a large number of benefits in rather than just exchanging of the ideas. The primary requirement of the communication is to send idea from one person to another but despite of this a great role is played by the mode of communication or the choice of word that plays a vital role in gaining the benefits or the damage to an individual. This is the main reason which lies behind the usage of proper communication as a mode of therapy for those subjects which generally requires a special attention or care. Communication is also used as an aid for the learning process of the children’s as it will be helping them in understand the general ideas as well as the help them grow and develop in a natural way. According to Drake and Ring (2016), the process of communication is generally used widely as a diagnostic tool for various type of counselling procedures which consists of the participation of subjects in order to receive a solution for the mental problems.

McCabe and Timmins(2013) stated that the techniques of communication might contradict at a certain state of time during the process of listening to others as same situation might be faced during individual listening to others who are having a conversation about the similar topic. There are also some other possibilities which includes the individual listening to others and keeps the matter to himself without considering the erpressive views on any personal experiences.  This might be due to the fact that he/she might not feel it proper to hurt the individual talking to them by means of crosstalk or there might be a feeling of avoiding the conflict by hiding the feelings or it might be a situation when the individual is feeling upset. This situation can be put in the category of communication errors which can make the individuals feel guilty because of such mistakes. There is also some situation when it has been seen that the individuals feel guilty without even noticing if they are actually guilty or not. Price et al. (2015) explained the various consequences of such communication which is it will be taking a toll and along with this type of miscommunication can lead to pain, frustration and resentment. There are several ways in which each and every facet of the life can be improved in an effective as well as easy manner in cases if the individuals are not having any kind of relational issues. Some of the better and beneficial aspects for every individual to have proper communication by means of proper learnings are “improvement in the relationships”, “landing better jobs”, “feeling much understandable” and many more.

Strength Cards

The assertiveness can be used for the purpose of explaining the balance that exists between the aggressive communication and the passive communication as there is an essential need of understanding the needs of an individual. Along with this there is also a need of advocating by the individuals so as to meet the needs. When and individual listens to someone else or acknowledge their statement or respect the feeling and statement of other individuals expressing that individuals own feelings, then it can be termed as compromise (Tran 2016). There are three different ways of expressing a single statement or sentence and this mainly includes the aggressive, passive and assertive. This can happen by making use of different tones. Some of the situation where the individual needs to express their life span are Basic thought, Body language, language style, and the consequences.  All these thoughts and the statements can be delivered in all the mentioned styles if any situation is expressed in a different form of life style. By the process of better learning and practices about such techniques and objectives can turn to be an effective measure for the individual so as to communicate and expressing the feelings of the real world.

Some of the effective communication that helps the individuals in communicating and expressing their feelings in the real world was provided by Saxena in the year of 2015. This was done because of the fact that these problems can lead to several type of stress as well as many other problems.  There is a need of effective communication inside a family as these acts as “preventive maintenance, reassuring family members that they care about each other and appreciate each other’s efforts.” Communication can get affected by the co-occurring which will be making it easier to bring up the requests whenever needed along with bringing up the issues which can lead to conflicts and along with this the resolving of this issues. Co-occurring disorders can affect the communication that exists between the family members in several ways and this might include taking of extra or additional efforts for the individuals so as to make aware every individual about their respective role in the respective sectors. Many situations are there where it can be seen that the individuals in a family are feeling resisted due to talk and they might feel depressed or might feel angry or irritated during a discussion on a topic.

Challenges in the Communication Process

Taylor and Hamdy in the year of 2013 explained all the problems that will be raised due to the errors in communication that exists between the family members and this could be easily magnified. This could lead to various other problems as well. Examples like interaction, adition related, and substances are capable of affecting the communication. The things that are included in the better communication are talking to the point, expression of the feelings with different statements, with “I” designated in a proper way so as to make sure that the he sentences are easy to understand by listening to the individual topics.  When speaking for the individual himself than despite of talking for the others can act as an another method for measuring for a better communication and leading a better life. According to Tong (2014) that focusing on the traits rather than emphasizing on the behaviour can act as another important factor for the purpose of enhancement of the communication skills in such a manner that the conflicts get eliminated. Along with this there is also a need of need of making the individuals understand about the various facts that the individual is trying to make it understandable to the listener. There are also certain facts that are helpful for the individuals to express their feelings along with making the fact understandable.

As per the works of authors Bramhall (2014), the therapy process is aided by the willingness of the subjects to cooperate with the therapist as well as try to build confidence for getting over the mental stress. The authors have discussed about the verbal communications and interviews that are widely used by therapists to try to learn about the problems faced by the subjects so that they can recommend suitable solution for the same. They have also stated the use of uncommon communication tools like strength cards and Johari window that generally helps the mental development and growth of the children. The authors have also discussed the possibility of implementing the communication tools for the therapy of other types of subjects like those under domestic or drug abuse.

Arnold and Boggs (2015) have explored possible methods that can be applied for the subjects who do not cooperate with the therapists during the counseling session. The authors have explained that these types of subjects are the most hard to cure and ordinary communication tools are not applicable on these subjects. This condition of the subjects is generally due to extreme stress or even intense drug or domestic abuse that has also invoked a sense of guilt among the subjects. Hence, the authors have recommended a careful approach towards the communication therapy process. They have recommended the use of virtual media sessions in order to deal with these subjects meaning face to face communication will not be involved for the session. In this session, the subject will need to access the computer and take part in the therapy sessions where he will only have to answer some questions provided to him. The authors have also explored the possibility of using assertions during the interview process of these subjects where the questions will be made such that the subjects are almost forced to speak the truth. In certain cases, the therapists can take the help of the peers of the subjects in order to know more about the subject. Johari window is another alternative where the subject will be able to recognize his own characters that were previously not known to him but his peers did. The Johari window will only undertake the process of self discovery of the subjects through the use of adjectives in various quadrants of the window.

Language Barrier

Austin and Pinkleton (2015) explored the application of the tool for the mental development and growth of children especially those who require special attention from their tutors. The communications tools like strength cards, tarot cards and others can be used for their development as a part of their learning process. These students require communication therapy in order to grow confidence and learn to accept challenges in their learning course. Again, the authors have also discussed the use of communication tools for the development of non-verbal and other specially abled children. Often these children find it hard to cope with their surroundings and special care is needed to rebuild their confidence. This is possible by using certain communication tools that help to develop them in spite of the challenges faced by them.

In order to develop an action plan for the course of next six months, the following schedule has been prepared.

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish
Action Plan for Learning Process	180 days	Mon 05-02-18	Fri 12-10-18
Study Initiation	24 days	Mon 05-02-18	Thu 08-03-18
Analysis of Requirements of Study	4 days	Mon 05-02-18	Thu 08-02-18
Topic Approval	4 days	Fri 09-02-18	Wed 14-02-18
Planning for the Study	4 days	Thu 15-02-18	Tue 20-02-18
Framework for Research and Study	6 days	Wed 21-02-18	Wed 28-02-18
Final Study Plan	6 days	Thu 01-03-18	Thu 08-03-18
Project Planning	40 days	Fri 09-03-18	Thu 03-05-18
Team Member Selection	10 days	Fri 09-03-18	Thu 22-03-18
Allocation of duties	4 days	Fri 23-03-18	Wed 28-03-18
Finding Research Questions	4 days	Thu 29-03-18	Tue 03-04-18
Define Scope	4 days	Wed 04-04-18	Mon 09-04-18
Time Scheduling	4 days	Tue 10-04-18	Fri 13-04-18
Resource and Time Allocation	10 days	Mon 16-04-18	Fri 27-04-18
Initiation of Study	4 days	Mon 30-04-18	Thu 03-05-18
Study Development	76 days	Fri 04-05-18	Fri 17-08-18
Finding Research Problems	10 days	Fri 04-05-18	Thu 17-05-18
Getting Access to Internet	6 days	Fri 18-05-18	Fri 25-05-18
Getting Access to Online Sources	6 days	Fri 18-05-18	Fri 25-05-18
Finding suitable sources for analysis and study	10 days	Mon 28-05-18	Fri 08-06-18
Literature Survey	4 days	Mon 11-06-18	Thu 14-06-18
Data Collection	30 days	Fri 15-06-18	Thu 26-07-18
Secondary Data Collection	16 days	Fri 27-07-18	Fri 17-08-18
Data Analysis	10 days	Mon 20-08-18	Fri 31-08-18
Analysis of Primary Data	6 days	Mon 20-08-18	Mon 27-08-18
Analysis of Secondary Data	4 days	Tue 28-08-18	Fri 31-08-18
Research Evaluation	14 days	Mon 03-09-18	Thu 20-09-18
Study Review and Evaluation	6 days	Mon 03-09-18	Mon 10-09-18
Evaluation on Reflection	4 days	Tue 11-09-18	Fri 14-09-18
Studying the learning outcomes	4 days	Tue 11-09-18	Fri 14-09-18
Finding issues faced and solving them	4 days	Mon 17-09-18	Thu 20-09-18
Research Closure	16 days	Fri 21-09-18	Fri 12-10-18
Final completion	4 days	Fri 21-09-18	Wed 26-09-18
Documentation of the study	6 days	Thu 27-09-18	Thu 04-10-18
Approval from supervisor	4 days	Fri 05-10-18	Wed 10-10-18
Team Sign Off	2 days	Thu 11-10-18	Fri 12-10-18

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Unwillingness to Cooperate

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