[Creating a reliable therapeutic relationship with the patient].

The factors necessary to create a reliable therapeutic relationship are presented in this paper. They include a demeanor and calmness of temperament as a psychiatric professional, a feeling of respect for the patient that is based on our common sense as human beings, an attitude of listening attentively to what the patient is revealing, maintaining an attitude of receptive neutrality, the ability to withstand the emotional burdens imposed on one by the patient, patience with any difficulty on one's own part to understand the patient, the ability to communicate clearly, including on the patient's negative aspects, and the ability to end psychiatric consultation sessions in a friendly and intimate manner. Creating a beneficial therapeutic relationship is about the building of a trusting relationship, in which the patient can constructively endure being questioned by us, or cope with the tough burdens we may place on them. However, a reliable relationship such as this contains paradoxes. Patients are able to talk to us about their suspicions, anxieties, dissatisfactions or anger only if the therapeutic relationship is good or based on trust. In other words, just like our patients, psychiatrists, too, must deal with what that the patient brings and directs toward us. It is at this point that what we call a true therapeutic relationship starts.