And researchers are beginning to identify some of the biological processes that could help explain why.
In this video, Donna Jackson Nakazawa, an award-winning science journalist and author, walks through some of that research, including what happens when a patient feels genuinely cared for.
Take a look. It’s just under 3 minutes.
You can find the study in its entirety here: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39524.439618.25
One of the most interesting points Donna raises is that caring may not simply change a patient’s experience of treatment.
It may also influence biological processes associated with stress and healing — while offering benefits to the practitioner at the same time.
Now I’d like to hear from you. How have you seen the quality of the therapeutic relationship affect a client’s progress?
Please leave a comment below. And thanks for watching.
Fern Herman, Counseling, San Jose, CA, USA says
I really believe this is true.
However the doctor/patient relationship can only go so far
and I have a severe peripheral neuropathy that none of the practitioners can seem to help.
Should I be looking elsewhere?
Fern
David DeVinney, Other, Lansing, MI, USA says
Sure, when we feel seen, we relax, and the relationship becomes fluid, mutually engaging, and beneficial.
Robert Page, Social Work, New Haven, CT, USA says
Our clinical predecessors, through their transference and countertransference practice and research focused on rapport and attunement early in the clinical relationship, recognized the effects of these clinical phenomena. Neuroscience not only confirms and validates the evolution of rapport and attunement; it also raises more questions about their use and the history of their biopsychosocial development in the client (and therapist).