Mental Health Disorders that Affect Communication Skills

Communication is essential for all individuals to make their needs, wants and ideas known. With a mental health diagnosis communication skills may be delayed or wrought with difficulties. Developing skills to work with the communication deficits and delays in an individual will improve the quality of their lives.
Mental health disorders that affect communication skills can be split into two main categories: childhood onset and adult onset. Childhood onset includes:
• Mental retardation including mild, moderate, severe, profound and severity unspecified.
• Learning disorders including reading, mathematics, disorder of written expression and learning disorders with not otherwise specified (NOS).
• Motor Skills Disorder including developmental coordination disorder.
• Communication disorders including expressive language disorder, mixed receptive-expressive language disorder, phonological disorder, stuttering, and communication disorder NOS.
• Pervasive developmental disorders including autistic disorders, Rett’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, Asperger’s disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder NOS,
• Attention-deficit and disruptive behavior disorders including ADHD, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and disruptive behavior disorder NOS.
• Adult onset can include dementia, Alzheimer’s type with early onset, Alzheimer’s with late onset, vascular dementia, dementia due to Pick’s disease, Dementia due to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, substance-induced persisting dementia, dementia due to multiple etiologies, and dementia with not otherwise specified.
• Conversion disorder, schizophrenia including paranoid type, disorganized type, catatonic type, undifferentiated type, residual type, schizophreniform disorder, schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder, brief psychotic disorder, shared psychotic disorder, psychotic disorder due to delusions and hallucinations, substance-induced psychotic disorder, psychotic disorder NOS.

Each diagnosis that an individual has can complicate the ability to communicate with others. Developing a communication plan takes into account the abilities the individual already has and the abilities that can be developed with a team approach. Assessments to determine the individual’s current abilities will be completed to find the baseline of their skills. Additional testing may be required to test hearing, swallow study and vision. Once the team has a thorough understanding of the individual abilities the plan will be completed. The plan will be a team effort with parents, teachers, speech therapists, physicians and mental health support staff. The plan may also include remediation including group and individual and special resources or classes. The plan will focus on two main areas: increasing skills in the areas of deficit and building on their currents abilities and strengths.

Building listening skills is one of the first areas of focus. This skill will reward the individual with hearing how others speak, picking up on the nuances of verbal communication and practicing copying the sounds and techniques of speech. Listening skills are not only for learning how to communicate but to understand what is being conveyed. There will be occasions when the wrong word is used to express their needs, wants and ideas and to be able to understand the meaning of what is being conveyed is more important that the individual using the right word at the right time. This is known as active listening.

As each level of communication is unique to each individual it is essential to their progress that they are accepted at their unique level regardless of the expected norm. Placing expectations on individuals is acceptable as long as the expectations are within the individual’s abilities. Placing unattainable expectations to bring the individual to a level they are unable to meet is a recipe for disaster.

There are many avenues of communication that can be utilized besides verbal; non-verbal, sign language, assisted devices including computers, pictures and communication boards. An individual with a mental health diagnosis can communicate with any and all of these tools.
Regardless of the method of communication, there are certain skills to be learned for effective communication: following instructions, accepting consequences, “no” answers, criticism, anger control strategies, communicating honestly, assertiveness, accepting decisions of authority, expressing concern and understanding for others, compromising others, controlling emotions, coping with anger and aggression from others, self-monitoring and reflection, seeking positive attention, disagreeing appropriately, interrupting appropriately, negotiating with others and use of appropriate language are just a fraction of the skills needed to learn to communicate effectively.

Teaching these skills can be done with role-playing, real time situations and written reminders. An individual with a mental health disability can learn with repetition and reminders to use the newly acquired skills. Communication can open many closed doors in their lives making their lives more fulfilling.