Modes of Therapeutic Engagement Part I: Diplomacy and Integrity

Abstract

Our topic concerns strategies of therapeutic discourse, four relational modes of speaking and listening, adopted with and without awareness: diplomacy, integrity, sincerity, and authenticity. The four modes are offered as conceptual tools to help the therapist build therapeutic relationships, respond to challenges and impasses, and advance group process and insight. They are navigated to cement bonding, build trust, allow troubled relationships to evolve and resolve, and strengthen the abilities to think and relate. Presented in two separate articles, in Part I the topic and its relationship to truth and falsity is introduced, and the modes of diplomacy and integrity are described. The discussion continues, in Part II, where the focus is on sincerity and authenticity, and the interrelationship among the four modes and their differing functions in the totality of the clinical situation is illustrated.