The Importance of Listening in Mental Health Care

Mental health care is not only about medicines, diagnoses, and hospital treatment. A person going through a mental health crisis may also need someone who listens to them and understands what they are experiencing. One approach that gives importance to listening and social support is called Open Dialogue.

Open Dialogue was developed in Western Lapland, Finland, by clinical psychologist Jaakko Seikkula and his colleagues. The approach involves the person, mental health professionals, family members, and other trusted people in the person’s life. Instead of making treatment decisions without the patient, the approach encourages everyone to discuss the situation together.

A major part of Open Dialogue is giving the patient a voice. The person can identify people they trust and involve them in discussions about their care. Family members and friends can also provide important information and emotional support. This can help the person feel less alone during a difficult period.

Another important feature is thatprofessionals listen before making quick conclusions about the person’s problem. The aim is to understand the person’s experiences, concerns, relationships, and needs. This does not mean that professional treatment or medication is ignored. Rather, it places the person’s own experience and social environment into the wider treatment process.

The approach was later studied in the United Kingdom through the ODDESSI research project. The study examined Open Dialogue in NHS mental health services and compared it with usual treatment. Participants were followed over a period of two years. The researchers examined outcomes such as hospitalization, quality of life, satisfaction with care, and relapse.

The results discussed by Justin Garson in Psychology Today reported that people receiving Open Dialogue had fewer hospital admissions and reported better quality of life and greater satisfaction with their care. However, the study did not find a significant difference between the groups in time to relapse. Therefore, the findings should be understood as evidence about several aspects of care rather than proof that Open Dialogue improves every mental health outcome.

Listening can be especially important because mental health problems are connected to a person’s everyday life. Problems involving family, relationships, education, work, stress, or social isolation can affect how a person feels and behaves. When these experiences are discussed openly, professionals may gain a better understanding of what the person needs.

In conclusion, Open Dialogue presents a different way of thinking about mental health care. It gives importance to communication, relationships, shared decision-making, and the patient’s personal experience. The research surrounding this approach shows why listening and involving supportive people may be important parts of mental health services. At the same time, further research can help determine how effective the approach is for different mental health conditions and in different healthcare systems.

Researcher and University Reference

Stephen Pilling, Ph.D. Professor, University College London (UCL) Lead researcher associated with the ODDESSI study.

Justin Garson, Ph.D. Professor of Philosophy, Hunter College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY). He wrote the Psychology Today article that discusses Open Dialogue and the ODDESSI findings.

References

Garson, J. (2026). Can listening keep people out of the psychiatric hospital? Psychology Today.

Pilling, S., Clarke, K., Parker, G., James, K., Landau, S., Weaver, T., Razzaque, R., & Craig, T. (2022). Open Dialogue compared to treatment as usual for adults experiencing a mental health crisis: Protocol for the ODDESSI multi-site cluster randomised controlled trial. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 113, 106664.