Soft Skills for Caregivers: Communication Awareness

In what is now considered a foundational study on communication, Watzlawick and Beavin share examples of non-verbal acts resulting in miscommunication.[1] One example focuses on a gentleman who is suspicious of his caregiver. The caregiver simply wishes to gain their client’s trust by being thoroughly attentive. However, the client perceives the caregiver’s constant presence as unsettling, unduly increasing his uneasiness and paranoia. In another scenario, Watzlawick and Beavin introduce a family caring for a depressed daughter. The family’s collective response to the daughter’s depression is to focus their energy on being present, which the daughter perceives as hovering. The unintended result is that the daughter feels guilty and is worried about her family’s dynamics being disrupted because of her diagnosis.

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Watzlawick, Paul, and Janet Beavin. 1967. “Some Formal Aspects of Communication.” The American Behavioral Scientist10 (8): 4–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764201000802.