The effectiveness of treatment depends on the quality of the patient-clinician relationship and, in particular, on the extent to which the patient and clinician build a shared understanding of illness and treatment. The cited study used the tool of conversation analysis to explore the aforementioned idea in the context of psychiatric consultations. These issues seem to be very significant when treating psychosis, where patients and health professionals need to communicate about the ambiguity of hallucinations and delusions. It is important that psychiatrists make an effort to make their speech understandable to the patient. This research provides evidence that a mechanism for building shared understanding in doctor-patient communication is extremely important and contributes to better therapeutic relationships and adherence to treatment recommendations.
http://spriebe.smd.qmul.ac.uk/publications/Peer-reviewedfulltextforupload/2011/2011-Goodcommunicationinpsychiatry-McCabe-EurPsych-Oct2011.pdf