Therapeutic Communication

Therapeutic Communication: Dr. Oz Interviews a Woman with Anorexia Nervosa
Kellie Shields
San Joaquin Delta College

Therapeutic Communication: Dr. Oz Interviews a Woman with Anorexia Nervosa
According to Halter (2014), therapeutic communication is crucial to the formation of quality, patient-centered relationships (pg.148).   Valuable communication skills include verbal and non-verbal methods.   Nursing students are required to hone their communication skills in order to be most effective during interactions with clients, client families, and colleagues.   Many tools are available to effectively improve a student nurse’s therapeutic communication (TC) skills.   Observation of a medical professional interviewing a patient provides important information to the student nurse.   Examples of therapeutic, and sometimes non-therapeutic, communication skills are displayed by the professional, allowing the learner to identify the differences and opportunities to improve his or her own TC skills.
During the daily television program, The Dr. Oz Show, Dr. Mehemet Oz, MD interviewed, Stacy,   a   43 year-old woman suffering from the serious psychiatric disorder, anorexia nervosa.   Stacy, who had been suffering from anorexia since her 20’s, weighed just 56 pounds.   Her heart rate was 48 beats per minute when Dr. Oz examined her, and she admitted to having multiple hospitalizations for bradycardia (abnormally slow heart rate). She appeared severely emaciated and frail. According to Dr. Oz, Stacy was in a medical crisis; she was fighting for her life. The video footage at the onset of The Dr. Oz Show provided background into her life history.   According to Stacy, she began restricting her food intake during her college years because of poor body image that she associated with her “freshman 15” weight gain.   After receiving compliments about the way she looked as she became thinner and thinner, her obsession with food restriction and dieting became stronger.   Her mother passed away...