Positive Communication that Would Work of the Case Study Group

Part I 

Two types of Positive Communication that Would Work of the Case Study Group 

Validating Feelings 

A person suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may have irrational or bizarre feelings that would be automatically repulsive to an ordinary person. A normal reaction would make it almost impossible to communicate effectively with this individual as this noticeable reaction would make the speaker bottle up (Carson-Wong et al., 2016). Validating feelings is a positive communication tool used to encourage such a person to talk. Under this tool , the listener accepts the feelings of the speaker without first synthesizing them. The next step is to try and understand this feeling and finally to nurture them. Validation would also help the therapist harness the feelings of the quasi-hostile PTSD patient and control them in the end. 

Open Body Language 

Open body language entails the use of active and passive body languages towards a patient during therapy and would be effective towards PTSD patients. PTSD speakers during therapy whether in a group or individual, needs encouragement to speak. This is because the more they speak, the more they enable a positive diagnosis from the practitioner as well as enable the speaker to tackle the issues they are facing. The patient and/or client will mostly focus on the therapist when talking which gives the therapist an opportunity to passively talk back to the patient without interrupting. This talk back encourages the patients to speak on and also ensures the patients that they are on the right path. Similarly, when the therapist finally addresses the patients, it is important to use more than just voice to communicate to the patient (Fala et al, 2016). 

Communication that would not Work of the Case Study Group 

Authoritarian Language 

This entails the use of an authoritative voice in an attempt to control and/or direct the emotions or feelings of a patient through therapy. Whereas this may be effective in other circumstances, PTSD from military service develops in circumstances where authoritative language is used continually more so in active combat (Grubaugh et al., 2016). Using it would, therefore, result in a recurrence of the scenario that caused the trauma, thus exacerbating it. Secondly, the intent of therapy under PTSD is to calm and reassure the patient thus authoritative voice use would be counterproductive. 

Part II 

The Dialogue 

Therapist: ( Holding hand out with palms up and with an earnest look on the face ) Mark, what comes to mind when you reminisce on your time in Fallujah? 

Mark: In my eyes, I see the dying faces of my buddies who fell in battle. They seem to be asking me why I did not do more to protect them. I can tell that they want to live and not die and that they need my help but that moment nothing can be done to save them. I feel responsible for their deaths and sometimes feel as if I acted to save my own life and therefore risked theirs. 

Therapist: ( In an authoritative tone ) you cannot consider it your fault that your buddies died, you need to let this pass for your own sake. 

Mark: ( With hunched shoulders ) everyone seems adept at telling me what to do, now you will even tell me how to feel? 

Therapist: ( Looking Mark in the eyes with a look of compassion ) tell me what you feel you would have done differently. 

Mark: ( Opens his mouth but seems to hesitate, therapist nods approvingly and maintains eye contact with a kindness in the eyes ) perhaps they took the bullets for me thus I should have put on more of an effort and taken the bullets for them. At least some would still be alive today. Some of them had families, wives, children, and loved ones who suffered great grief due to their losses. I am not much of a family man and would not have been missed as such. It would have been better had I been killed than them. ( Mark stalls, therapist nods again and makes an approving grunt ) Anthony a man walking behind me on a foot patrol stepped on an improvised explosive device that I had clearly missed by inches. Had I not missed it, his three children would still be having a father. Instead, he died and I lived a terrible waste. 

Therapist: Would Anthony have felt the same about you and considered it better had you died? 

Mark: Now that you mention it, Anthony was older than us and somewhat a father figure. He was very proud of the younger members of the group as we had worked extra hard and achieved a lot to be members of the elite squad at such a tender age. My death would have devastated him and he would have readily sacrificed himself as I would have for him. 

Therapist: ( With an inviting look ) Assuming that Anthony was here for a moment, what do you thing he would say to you about how you feel. 

Mark: ( Remains pensive for some time, the therapist does not interfere and allows this thought to manifest themselves and only maintains a patient facial impression ) Anthony would always tell us to keep an open mind and expect the unexpected. He would indicate to us that in a combat situation, it was not always guaranteed for everyone to walk out alive and it was the obligation of those who did to live for themselves and on behalf of their buddies who did not. I guess if Anthony were here he would ask me if I was living large enough for me and for him too and am afraid my answer would be to the negative. I feel as if I left the best of me in Fallujah. 

Therapist: ( In a calm almost pleading voice ) Very well, you, therefore, have an obligation to take control of your life as your buddies are counting on you. 

References  

Carson-Wong, A., Hughes, C. D., & Rizvi, S. L. (2016). The effect of therapist use of validation strategies on change in client emotion in individual DBT treatment sessions. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3MP55JQ 

Fala, N. C., Coleman, J. A., & Lynch, J. R. (2016). Anticipatory anxiety in the treatment of combat veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.  Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma ,  25 (2), 210-229 

Grubaugh, A. L., Clapp, J. D., Frueh, B. C., Tuerk, P. W., Knapp, R. G., & Egede, L. E. (2016). Open trial of exposure therapy for PTSD among patients with severe and persistent mental illness.  Behaviour research and therapy ,  78 , 1-12