Supporting Therapeutic Relationships and Communication about Mental Health

TL;DR

This paper emphasizes the importance of therapeutic relationships and communication in mental health interventions, reviewing existing theories and presenting two systems designed to improve these aspects for better clinical outcomes.

Contribution

The authors introduce two innovative systems, gNats Island and MindBalance, aimed at enhancing communication and empowering patients in mental health treatments.

Findings

gNats Island supports face-to-face adolescent interventions

MindBalance improves online depression treatment engagement

Systems enhance communication and patient empowerment

Abstract

Effective communication and strong therapeutic relationships are critical to successful mental health interventions. For example, in 1957 Carl Rogers, a pioneer of person-centred therapy, proposed that an empowering relationship could, in and of itself, create the necessary and sufficient conditions for positive therapeutic outcomes [1]. Whilst modern psychological theories no longer favour an exclusive focus on relationships, positive relationships and the dynamics of client-therapist communication remain cornerstones of mental health intervention theories. A more recent meta-review concluded that across all interventions models, irrespective of the theoretical approach, the quality of the relationship between therapists and clients is the second leading determinant of successful clinical outcomes [2]. Over the past ten years we (David Coyle and Gavin Doherty) have designed and evaluated a wide range to systems that provide support for psychological (or talk- based) mental health interventions [3]. Here we briefly consider two recent examples. In each case our aim was to enhance communication and reshape clinical practice in a manner that empowers patients. gNats Island is a computer game that supports face-to-face interventions for adolescents [4]. MindBalance is an online treatment programme for adults experiencing difficulties with depression [5].