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Treatment Plan Day 10. Learning Assertive Communication Skills.Your treatment plan focus for today, will be to learn about assertive communication skills. People with bipolar and anxiety disorders often report feeling that they "Don't belong" in social situations, or that they "never know what to say" or feel that "Other people are mean and judgmental." Some report that they feel more comfortable around people and environments that are not considered "normal", and they simply can't or don't want to relate to "normal society." But that this leaves them feeling like "an outcast." Many of these people have also reported this feeling of being "outcast" even among the people that are accepting of them. And are often in the habit of letting people "take advantage" of them, and are then left feeling angry,resentful, and "alone". While we can't always change our environment, (such as the environment at work, school, or within family members) we can change the way we think about, react to and communicate with the people in those environments. Assertiveness training helps by teaching you how to effectively communicate using whole massages, and stand up for your legitimate rights, while upholding your responsibilities in regard to yourself and others in a way that does not make other people upset with you. Of course using assertive communication skills will not help in every situation, with every person, but you will find that the more you use the skills you are about to learn, the easier it will be to relate to others. It will also help reveal to you whether or not you are in an abusive situation. Your next step is to read the assertiveness page of this website. You will need to identify your communication style, and click the link that best describes the one that you currently use. Hint: Nobody is born assertive. So unless you have taken a communication class before visiting this website, chances are your communication style is not assertive. Once you have identified and learned about your style of communication, click on the link to learn the difference between traditional assumptions, and legitimate
next, click on the link to learn about your assertive repsonsibilities. And last but not least, you will be clicking on the link to learn about assertive communication skills. If possible, get a friend or family member to practice using these skills with you . Take out your journal, and write out whole messages in response to situations that have bothered you during your seven days of journaling. This segment of the treatment plan is pretty long, so you may want to do this over the course of a couple of days. Again, this is YOUR treatment plan, and you don't want to rush yourself through it. As I said before, the more you practice assertive communication skills, the easier they will be to use. Do some relaxation techniques, and have a good night :) |
