United We Care | A Super App for Mental Wellness

logo
  • Services
    • Areas of Expertise
    • Our Professionals
  • Self Care
    • COVID Care
    • Meditation
    • Focus
    • Mindfulness
    • Move
    • Sleep
    • Stress
  • Blog
  • Services
    • Areas of Expertise
    • Our Professionals
  • Self Care
    • COVID Care
    • Meditation
    • Focus
    • Mindfulness
    • Move
    • Sleep
    • Stress
  • Blog
logo
Get Help Now
Download App
Search
Close

Table of Contents

How to Use Therapeutic Metacommunication in Counseling or Family Therapy

  • United We Care
  • September 14, 2021
العربية
  • বাংলা
  • Deutsch
  • Español
  • Français
  • हिन्दी
  • Bahasa Indonesia
  • 日本語
  • ಕನ್ನಡ
  • മലയാളം
  • मराठी
  • Português
  • Русский
  • தமிழ்
  • తెలుగు
  • 中文 (中国)

In today’s world, communication – rather, effective communication – has reduced significantly mainly due to lack of time. Communication lags in family and society are disrupting interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships, leading to various psychological problems. Long-term psychological disturbances have given rise to societal issues of suicide, murder, and other serious crimes.

Therapeutic Metacommunication in Counseling or Family Therapy

Ruchi Garg
Psychologist
Rated 5 out of 5
Book Now
Simpy Bansal
Life Coach
Book Now

Psychotherapy goes a long way in dealing with these problems. Clinical psychologists use different strategies to communicate with patients and bring out their sufferings.

Humans communicate in three methods, broadly:

  • Verbal
  • Non-verbal 
  • Visual

What is Metacommunication?

Meta-communication is a means of communication through non-verbal expressions like facial expressions, body language, gestures, voice tones, etc. It is a secondary process of communication used along with verbal communication.

Sometimes, these can become the primary method of communication between two individuals. These secondary cues act as the primary cues used to interpret the communication between them. Meta-communication then becomes a collaborative process of gathering maximum information during such conversation.

Who Invented Metacommunication?

Gregory Bateson, a social scientist, coined the term ‘meta-communication’ in 1972. 

History of Metacommunication

Donald Kessler in 1988 used meta-communication as a therapeutic means to improve the interpersonal relationship between the therapist and patient. In his experience, this led to a better understanding between them and provided true feedback to the therapist about the patient’s current mental status.

How Metacommunication is Used for Mental Health

Meta-communication is a psycho-therapeutic tool to treat behavioral disorders. It is considered one of the best tools in psychotherapy to address family problems arising due to behavioral miscommunication between one or more family members. During group family therapy sessions, sometimes, the therapist has to depend mainly on secondary cues to come to any conclusions, since a family member might not be comfortable speaking in front of other members.

Example of Therapeutic Metacommunication

For example, it is much easier for a doctor or therapist to assess the patient when they are physically present, rather than through a telephonic conversation. When physically present, the therapist can actively listen to the problems of the patient. At the same time, they analyze the patient’s expressions and body language to form an effective treatment strategy.  

How to Start the Therapeutic Metacommunication Process

Meta-communication can be initiated by:

  1. Asking an introductory question to the patient, like “How are you feeling today?”
  2. Sharing the therapist’s observations with the patient, like “I think you are disturbed today.”
  3. The therapist can also share their feelings, views, or experiences with the patient on related matters. This helps to develop a strong bond between the therapist and the patient.

Types of Meta-Communication

Semantic scholar William Wilmot’s classification focuses on meta-communication in human relationships.

Relationship-level meta-communication

The non-verbal signals between a patient and therapist grow with time. The signals or facial expressions the patient gives at the first therapy session will not be the same after 30 sessions. This is because the relationship has grown between the patient and therapist.

Episodic-level meta-communication

This type of communication occurs without any relational links. It includes only one interaction. The expression between patient and therapist is different if the patient knows that they are interacting with the doctor only once in a lifetime. If the patient knows that the interaction has just begun and can continue, the verbal and non-verbal expressions will be completely different.

Principles of meta-communication

A therapist should follow the following principles in their sessions when it comes to meta-communication:

  1. Engage the patient in a collaborative interaction during the intervention. The patient should feel the authenticity of the therapist’s intervention.
  2. The patient should feel at ease while sharing their struggle with the therapist.
  3. The therapist should be open-minded in approaching the patient. This makes the patient non-defensive in their communication.
  4. The therapist should acknowledge their feelings towards the patient. This helps the patient to develop a strong relationship with the therapist.
  5. The questions framed by the therapist should focus on the present situation and be specific. This helps the patient realize their behavior and what needs to be changed.
  6. The therapist should constantly monitor the closeness or relatedness developing between them and the patient. Any shift of closeness might directly impact the therapy.
  7. The therapist must re-evaluate the situation frequently to avoid missing any ongoing change of the situation.
  8. Finally, the therapist must accept and expect failures in communication and be prepared to undergo the same impasse repeatedly.

Therapy Scenarios for Metacommunication

It is not only psychologists who use counseling as a part of their therapy. Other medical practitioners like surgeons, physiotherapists, and nurses also use meta-communication as a tool during their counseling sessions.

Scenario 1

A patient comes with a family member for a counseling session. The therapist gets different expressions or nonverbal cues when interacting with the patient alone and in the presence of the family member.

Scenario 2

A patient looks attentive during the counseling therapy but their body language does not appear to be so. They may be frequently looking at the watch or fidgeting with their phone.

Scenario 3

A child complains of frequent stomach pain with no apparent clinical findings. The therapist depends on non-verbal cues to verify the actual situation. They then discover that the reason for the child’s frequent stomach pain was to avoid attending school.

How Effective is Therapeutic Metacommunication in Therapy?

Meta-communication should always be correlated with other methods of communication to arrive at definitive conclusions regarding the patient’s treatment. However, meta-communication can be used as the sole means of communication in people who have lost their ability to communicate. They may be people affected by certain mental disorders or who are mute, or children.

The effectiveness of counseling depends upon the correct interpretation of the non-verbal cues given by the patient to the therapist. The experience of the therapist helps to correctly interpret these meta-communicative signals. All psychotherapy practitioners should utilize meta-communication to develop a strong patient-therapist relationship.

Self Assessment Tests

COVID Anxiety Test

Start Start

 

Depression Assessment Test

Start Start

 

Anxiety Assessment Test

Start Start

 

OCD Assessment Test

Start Start

 

Anger Assessment Test

Start Start

 

Personal Wellness Assessment

Start Start

 

Mental Stress Assessment

Start Start

 

Relationship Assessment

Start Start

 

Subscribe to our newsletter

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Related Articles

Dating and Drug-Induced
Emotional Wellness
United We Care

The Truth About Dating and Drug-Induced Mental Problems

Introduction People drink alcohol and use drugs for a variety of reasons. Whatever the rationale behind it may be, using alcohol or drugs can negatively

Read More »
United We Care June 22, 2022
Antibiotics On Chicken And Fish
Emotional Wellness
United We Care

Reckless Use of Antibiotics On Chicken And Fish: Should You Be Worried?

Introduction Since the discovery of antibiotics by Alexander Flemings in 1929, antibiotics have been developed extensively and have revolutionised the medical sector and the food

Read More »
United We Care June 20, 2022
Emotional Rollercoaster of Doing a PhD
Emotional Wellness
United We Care

How to Deal with the Emotional Rollercoaster of Doing a PhD

Introduction A doctor of philosophy (PhD) is the highest academic qualification that a person can achieve. It is a doctoral research degree where a student

Read More »
United We Care June 20, 2022
Tetralogy of Fallot
Emotional Wellness
United We Care

Tetralogy of Fallot: Everything You Need To Know About This Serious Heart Condition.

Introduction The tetralogy of Fallot is a combination of four defects in the heart. It is a rare congenital heart defect, which means that it

Read More »
United We Care June 20, 2022
nightfall or wet dreams
Emotional Wellness
United We Care

10 Facts about Nightfall You Probably Didn’t Know

Introduction Sex is a taboo topic in many societies. Consequently, the lack of sex education in the general public has led to many misconceptions about

Read More »
United We Care June 20, 2022
Emotional Rollercoaster
Emotional Wellness
United We Care

Supporting A Family Member With A Congenital Disease: The Emotional Rollercoaster

Introduction A family is one of the best blessings of life. It is a recipe for ensuring a happy life. However, when we learn that

Read More »
United We Care June 20, 2022

Related Articles

Dating and Drug-Induced
Emotional Wellness
United We Care

The Truth About Dating and Drug-Induced Mental Problems

Introduction People drink alcohol and use drugs for a variety of reasons. Whatever the rationale behind it may be, using alcohol or drugs can negatively

Read More »
June 22, 2022 No Comments
Antibiotics On Chicken And Fish
Emotional Wellness
United We Care

Reckless Use of Antibiotics On Chicken And Fish: Should You Be Worried?

Introduction Since the discovery of antibiotics by Alexander Flemings in 1929, antibiotics have been developed extensively and have revolutionised the medical sector and the food

Read More »
June 20, 2022 No Comments
Emotional Rollercoaster of Doing a PhD
Emotional Wellness
United We Care

How to Deal with the Emotional Rollercoaster of Doing a PhD

Introduction A doctor of philosophy (PhD) is the highest academic qualification that a person can achieve. It is a doctoral research degree where a student

Read More »
June 20, 2022 No Comments
Tetralogy of Fallot
Emotional Wellness
United We Care

Tetralogy of Fallot: Everything You Need To Know About This Serious Heart Condition.

Introduction The tetralogy of Fallot is a combination of four defects in the heart. It is a rare congenital heart defect, which means that it

Read More »
June 20, 2022 No Comments
nightfall or wet dreams
Emotional Wellness
United We Care

10 Facts about Nightfall You Probably Didn’t Know

Introduction Sex is a taboo topic in many societies. Consequently, the lack of sex education in the general public has led to many misconceptions about

Read More »
June 20, 2022 No Comments
Emotional Rollercoaster
Emotional Wellness
United We Care

Supporting A Family Member With A Congenital Disease: The Emotional Rollercoaster

Introduction A family is one of the best blessings of life. It is a recipe for ensuring a happy life. However, when we learn that

Read More »
June 20, 2022 No Comments
COMPANY
  • Who We Are
  • Areas of Expertise
  • UWC Gives Back
  • Press & Media
  • Contact Us
  • Careers @ UWC
  • Become a Counselor
CUSTOMERS
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • FAQs
RESOURCES
  • Self Care
  • Yoga Portal
DOWNLOAD APP
apple-app-store
apple-app-store
Copyright © United We Care. 2022. All Rights Reserved.
Follow Us:
Facebook-f Instagram Twitter Linkedin-in
Logo

To take the assessment, please download United We Care app. Scan the QR code from your mobile to download the app

Logo

Take this assessment on App

Download the App Now

Take this before you leave.

We have a mobile app that will always keep your mental health in the best of state. Start your mental health journey today!

DOWNLOAD NOW

SCAN TO DOWNLOAD

Please share your location to continue.

Check our help guide for more info.

share your location