ATI VIDEO CAS STUDY-ANXIETY DISORDER

• Why is it important for the nurse to use therapeutic communication techniques when interacting with a client who has anxiety? What are the consequences of not using therapeutic communication techniques? How would this potentially affect the therapeutic relationship? -Using therapeutic communication will help the client identify their triggers and make a plan to decrease their chances of another attack happening. It will also help the client better express their feelings and let them know that you are there for them and that you care about how they feel. Non-therapeutic techniques place blame, minimize the patients feelings, make them think that they are overreacting, letting them know that they will be fine when they think otherwise, and they make the patient think that you are not interested in what they are saying and that you have ‘better things to do’ and that they are wasting your time. This would affect the therapeutic relationship because they may think you are judging them and putting them down. Non-therapeutic communication will break the trusting relationship the client has with the nurse and will make the patient dislike the nurse leading to the absence of communication from the client to the nurse.