Setting Up Patients for Success: Providing Patients with Psychoeducation Increases Their Resilience and Helps Maintain Progress in Treatment

This presentation will address how to provide patients with psychoeducation on a number of topics, including the anxiety/OCD cycle, the cognitive behavioral triangle, exposure and response prevention, habituation, inhibitory learning, psychological flexibility, values, the power of choice, and treatment progress expectations. In addition, this session will offer ways for clinicians to build rapport and establish trust with patients through the psychoeducation process by using relatable metaphors, humor, and providing helpful reassurance. This session will also assist clinicians in working with patients on collaboratively setting treatment goals while simultaneously managing expectations and helping patients to understand that obstacles in treatment are normal and can be overcome. Finally, this presentation will examine when in treatment clinicians might consider returning to psychoeducation in order to aid patients in reenergizing their efforts, examining motivation for treatment, and acknowledging their treatment successes to date.

Learning Objectives

1. At the conclusion of this presentation, attendees will be able to outline a plan for psychoeducation and be able to explain and present key concepts in treatment in lay terms to aid patients’ understanding of the purpose of therapy.
2. At the conclusion of this presentation, attendees will be able to develop their own examples to help patients relate to the material while also building rapport and connecting with their therapists.
3. At the conclusion of this presentation, attendees will be able to identify specific areas of the psychoeducational process where they can instill hope, motivation, and resilience in patients, using compassion, humor, and empathy.