Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Conflict Is Optional, Difference Is Not : Toward A Difference-Based Approach To Interpersonal Communication, James Arthur Gieseking Jr

Dissertations and Theses

An examination of the discussion of conflict in general, interpersonal and small group communication texts indicates that the conceptualization of conflict theory in the U.S. is increasingly dependent upon three theoretical pillars: the qualities of ubiquity, utility and necessity. A critical, deconstructive analysis of these operational characteristics in relation to the actual human experience of conflict reveals that they are more appropriately associated with the essential condition of difference, rather than conflict, and the concepts of conflict and difference are generally conflated in U.S. communication texts. The synergistic interaction of a variety of specific cultural constructs can be seen as …

The History Of The Present Illness As Treatment: Who's Listening, And Why Does It Matter?, Herbert M. Adler, Md, Phd

Department of Family & Community Medicine Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: The history of the present illness (HPI) is examined as a narrative communication that has the potential to be therapeutic.

METHODS: The general principles that influence the therapeutic potential of the HPI are induced from participant observation of personal experience and natural observations of conventional social interaction. These principles are corroborated by evidence from cross-cultural healing practices, clinical experience, and experimental psychology.

RESULTS: To facilitate a therapeutic HPI, the clinician should convey a sense of safety, sensitivity, affective competence, and cognitive competence. Furthermore, the effective clinician joins the patient in coprocessing the illness experience.

CONCLUSIONS: The (HPI) is not …