title: Unknowing: a potential common factor in successful engagement and psychotherapy with people who have complex psychosocial needs.
abstract: Mental health nurses have a demonstrated capacity to work with people who have complex mental health and social problems in a respectful and non-coercive way for lengthy periods of time. Despite contributing to positive outcomes, nurses are rarely described as possessing psychotherapeutic skills or having advanced knowledge. More often, they are described as being instrumental to medicine, and nurses are socialized into not overstepping their subordinate position relative to medicine by claiming to know too much. Paradoxically, this position of unknowing, when employed mindfully, could be a critical ingredient in fostering therapeutic relationships with otherwise difficult-to-engage people. The concept of unknowing is explored with reference to different schools of psychotherapy. Adopting an unknowing stance, that is, not prematurely assuming to know what the person's problem is, nor the best way to help, might enable a deeper and more authentic understanding of the person's experience to emerge over time.
authors.affiliation: School of Health & Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Lismore, New South Wales, Australia; Acute Care Team, Emergency Department, Queensland Health, Cairns, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lakeman
mesh_terms: D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology; D008605:Mental Health Services; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*
keywords: humility; mental health nursing; phenomenology; psychotherapy; unknowing