Psychoeducation and Information-Giving

Therapeutic techniques such as Socratic questioning aim to help patients to become cognizant of, and to synthesize, information that they already have. However, many patients experience psychological distress because they lack critical information: the essential component of many cognitive models concerns patient’s misappraisals or misperceptions of a stimulus. In cases where patients are lacking critical information then psychoeducation (giving information) is a hugely important psychological intervention. Psychoeducation can include:

• information given verbally in a therapy session;
• written material in the form of Psychology Tools information handouts, guides, and chapters;
• exercises or homework tasks where patients are encouraged to discover information for themselves.