Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing by Videbeck

5 THERAPEUTICRELATIONSHIPS 95

matic responses or behaviors just because they are
familiar. They need to examine such accepted ways
of responding or behaving and evaluate how they
help or hinder the therapeutic relationship.
One tool that is useful in learning more about
oneself is the Johari window (Luft, 1970), which cre-
ates a “word portrait” of a person in four areas and
indicates how well that person knows himself or her-
self and communicates with others. The four areas
evaluated are as follows:

• Quadrant 1: Open/public self: qualities one
  knows about oneself and others also know


• Quadrant 2: Blind/unaware self: qualities
  known only to others


• Quadrant 3: Hidden/private self: qualities
  known only to oneself


• Quadrant 4: Unknown: an empty quadrant
  to symbolize qualities as yet undiscovered by
  oneself or others

In creating a Johari window, the first step is

for the nurse to appraise his or her own qualities by

creating a list of them: values, attitudes, feelings,

strengths, behaviors, accomplishments, needs, de-

sires, and thoughts. The second step is to find out

the perceptions of others by interviewing them and

asking them to identify qualities, both positive and

negative, that they see in the nurse. To learn from this

exercise, the opinions given must be honest; there

must be no sanctions taken against those who list

negative qualities. The third step is to compare lists

and to assign qualities to the appropriate quadrant.

If quadrant 1 is the longest list, this indicates

that the nurse is open to others; a smaller quadrant 1

means that the nurse shares little about himself or

herself with others. If quadrants 1 and 3 are both

small, the person demonstrates little insight. Any

change in one quadrant will be reflected by changes

in other quadrants. The goal is to work towardmoving

Box 5-3

➤ VALUESCLARIFICATIONEXERCISE

VALUES CLARIFICATION

Your values are your ideas about what is most important to you in your life—what you want to live by and live for.

They are the silent forces behind many of your actions and decisions. The goal of “values clarification” is for their

influence to become fully conscious, for you to explore and honestly acknowledge what you truly value at this time.

You can be more self-directed and effective when you know which values you really choose to keep and live by as

an adult, and which ones will get priority over others. Identify your values first, and then rank your top three or five.

Being with people

Being loved

Being married

Having a special

partner

Having companionship

Loving someone

Taking care of others

Having someone’s

help

Having a close family

Having good friends

Being liked

Being popular

Getting someone’s

approval

Being appreciated

Being treated fairly

Being admired

Being independent

Being courageous

Having things in control

Having self-control

Being emotionally

stable

Having self-acceptance

Having pride or dignity

Being well organized

Being competent

Learning and knowing

a lot

Achieving highly

Being productively

busy

Having enjoyable work

Having an important

position

Making money

Striving for perfection

Making a contribution

to the world

Fighting injustice

Living ethically

Being a good parent

(or child)

Being a spiritual person

Having a relationship

with God

Having peace and quiet

Making a home

Preserving your roots

Having financial

security

Holding on to what

you have

Being safe physically

Being free from pain

Not getting taken

advantage of

Having it easy

Being comfortable

Avoiding boredom

Having fun

Enjoying sensual

pleasures

Looking good

Being physically fit

Being healthy

Having prized

possessions

Being a creative person

Having deep feelings

Growing as a person

Living fully

“Smelling the flowers”

Having a purpose

By Joyce Sichel. From Bernard, M. E., & Wolfe, J. L. (Eds.) (2000). The RET resource book for practitioners. New York: Albert Ellis

Institute.