Collaborative Psychoeducation
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Five Principles
Psychoeducation is a fundamental component of any effective treatment. In Flexible CBT, psychoeducation begins in the first session, and then is an ongoing collaborative process between therapist and patient every step of the way.
The five principles of collaborative psychoeducation are: Inform, Educate, Validate, Incorporate, and Collaborate.
Inform
A therapist should provide objective information about the patient’s condition, diagnosis, and the most effective treatment approaches. Informing also includes identifying resources: books, websites, handouts that the therapist has, etc. that provide more in-depth information for the patient to consider.
Educate
Take the mystery out of therapy. Patients should be duly informed about what the treatment is and how they can get the most out of it. It’s a worthwhile discussion to talk about a patient’s condition /diagnosis and answer question of how the treatment addresses it. Over the course of treatment, a therapist should highlight “teaching moments” of how a particular intervention was effective, or conversely, talk about why something is a challenge or not working, and then look at alternative courses of action.
Validate
Psychoeducation provides information that is important for patients to know, and in the process this is validating. Often people feel alone with their struggles and it can be reassuring for them to hear that other people go through similar things, AND that their therapist is well informed. It goes a long way to know that one’s therapist is familiar with the ins and outs of one’s condition and can validate what a patient is experiencing.
Incorporate
Especially with skills training, therapists should take every opportunity to explain to patients the choice of a particular intervention and why it is of value in the treatment. This should occur every step of the way during treatment.
Collaborate
Therapist and patient are in this together. Therapists should be facilitating open communication for patients to ask questions and get answers. Or, if a therapist isn’t sure of the answer, to say so; this may be an opportunity for therapist and patient to work more closely together to generate hypotheses together and move the therapy forward.