Mental Health Improving Communication for Mental Wellness

Improving Communication for Mental Wellness

Humans have evolved with a drive to develop personal relationships, as this increases our chances of survival. One important influence on our ability to form strong, successful, healthy relationships is communication — good communication brings us together, enables others to understand how we feel, and helps support our psychological well-being.

We communicate with each other in many ways. For example, we can exchange information verbally through language or nonverbally through body language and eye contact. This can be as simple as reading the expression on another’s face or hugging someone.

It’s easy to take the ability to communicate with each other for granted and not appreciate its importance unless there’s a problem. However, for many people and assorted reasons, poor communication can be the source of challenges in romantic relationships, workplace culture, and overall mental health.

What Are Common Communication Issues?

Types of communication issues include:

  • Misunderstandings: Misinterpreting intentions or words.
  • Listening difficulties: Feeling unheard or struggling to listen actively.
  • Nonverbal misalignment: Sending unintended messages through body language and tone.
  • Emotional expression struggles: Finding it hard to share feelings.
  • Cultural or style differences: Navigating different communication norms.

How Communication Problems Affect Relationships

Clear, compassionate communication builds trust and connection, while persistent struggle can sometimes create emotional distance. In personal relationships, this manifests as increased conflict or difficulty expressing love and support. Professionally, it could affect teamwork, career growth, or job satisfaction.

Signs that communication could improve include frequent conflicts, feelings of frustration, or avoiding tough conversations. Acknowledging these signs with your partner, friend, family, or colleague is the first step toward positive change.

Communication Issues and Mental Health

Communication problems can sometimes be a part of a mental health diagnosis, including, but not limited to:

When communication problems and mental health challenges are present, it is helpful to add support, skills training, and therapy.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illnesses (DSM-5) recognizes social (pragmatic) communication disorder as a childhood neurodevelopmental diagnosis that impacts communication. This condition is characterized by persistent difficulty with verbal and nonverbal communication.

Strategies to Enhance Communication Skills

If communication issues affect your life, consider a combination of the following to improve communication skills and open communication pathways:

  • Therapy: Most therapists have the skills to address issues and have a better understanding of any associated or underlying mental health challenges. Depending on the aspects of your life affected, whether you face problems in the workplace or at home, consider individual, couples, family, or group therapy, where you can strengthen communication skills in a private setting.
  • Support or educational groups: You don’t necessarily have to go to therapy to learn communication skills. Group communication skills, social skills, and assertiveness skills training classes can be a wonderful way to learn active listening skills and other communication tools and practice in a social, supportive setting. This is a terrific way to find effective, positive feedback with real people. Group sessions can effectively address these issues for many organizations so employees understand each other, families and partners improve their interpersonal communication patterns, and children learn appropriate ways to express themselves. Search online for groups running in your local area.
  • Social support: Communication issues can make it difficult to ask for the social support and help you need. However, it is important to stay connected. Reaching out to friends and family for help or discussing things is important.
  • Online resources: Explore self-guided psychological and communication skills resources if you encounter difficulties with different schedules. Online research can also help you broaden your worldview, which can help you communicate with people of different cultures or identities.
  • Speech therapy: If communication issues are related to language problems, working with a speech therapist can significantly help. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association is a good place to start.
  • Helplines: If you need immediate support, dial 988 or go to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline website.

Therapy for Communication Issues

Many therapeutic approaches can be tailored to help break down communication barriers. The best-fitting type of therapy depends on how communication problems affect your life. For example, consider whether it's having a broad impact on your life — are you having issues with workplace communication and team member interactions due to cultural differences or conflict resolution? Or is it limited to family interactions or relationships dealing with hurt feelings or the inability to be on the same page as a partner?

It can be exhausting to worry about always choosing words carefully or a person’s message having a negative impact on the listener. To become an effective communicator, consider the following therapy types:

  • Mindfulness practices help us become more aware of thoughts and emotions without automatically reacting to them. This is particularly helpful for communication issues relating to emotion-driven reactions and difficulties with attention and listening.
  • Family systems therapy helps all family members to better communicate and support each other.
  • Couples counseling is an excellent choice when communication issues are affecting your relationship. Couples counseling is a common therapy for couples with communication issues​.
  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a skills-based approach that teaches communication skills in addition to mindfulness, distress tolerance, and emotion regulation skills.
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)  helps change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors and create more balanced perspectives.
  • Trauma-focused CBT can help particularly when communication issues stem from traumatic experiences.

Before choosing, consider how the different therapy types resonate with you. If you’re not sure, your prospective therapist is a great person to talk it over with and help with the decision-making.

What to Look for in a Therapist for Communication Issues

Factors to consider when choosing a therapist for communication issues include:

  • Specialization: Most therapists will be able to help with communication issues. However, when selecting a therapist, consider the context of the communication issues and then look for a therapist with specialized training in that area. For example, if there is a history of trauma alongside communication difficulties, look for a therapist with that specialization. If communication issues affect your relationship, look for a therapist specializing in relationship communication counseling. Therapists often identify their specializations on their website or online profile.
  • Qualifications: It can be difficult to decide which type of mental health professional to see, with many different provider types available. Most importantly, look for a currently licensed mental health professional. You can work with any provider type, as most therapists will have training in communication skills. That said, if you think medication might be needed, make sure you see a psychiatrist. This particular type of mental health professional can prescribe medication if necessary.
  • Relationship: The trusting relationship with a therapist is called the therapeutic alliance, and it’s the number one indicator of treatment efficacy. The best way to judge how you might feel about a therapist is to ask for preliminary phone calls. This also lets you ask about their experience, what type of therapy they suggest, and what it will be like. Try to speak to a few different therapists before deciding on a provider.
  • Therapy type: As discussed in the section above, you’ll also want to prioritize the therapy type that appeals to you.

Take the First Step to Better Communication

Every step you take to improve communication brings you closer to more fulfilling relationships and a greater sense of emotional well-being. Seeking therapy to improve communication skills​ is a great first step. Find a therapist near you today to explore how improved communication enhances your life and interpersonal relationships.

Sources and references

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