Open Dialogueis a human rights-oriented approach. Following research on clinical practice, seven key principles that define Open Dialogue meetings have been recognized.
- Immediate help: Responding to crises within 24 hours of first contact to prevent the escalation of distress.
- Social Network Perspective:Involving family, friends, and other significant people in the care process to provide a comprehensive view of the individual’s situation.
- Flexibility and mobility: Adapting support to the individual’s needs and preferences, allowing for meetings at home, online, or wherever feels right.
- Responsibility:The first person contacted takes responsibility for the entire journey, avoiding referrals to other departments.
- Psychological continuity: The first person contacted takes responsibility for the entire journey, avoiding referrals to other departments.
- Tolerance of uncertainty: Holding space for not-knowing and allowing new understanding to emerge through honest communication.
- Dialogism: True dialogue ensures that every voice is heard and focuses on working together in therapeutic decisions. Everyone’s feelings and opinions are valued, creating a welcoming environment.
Over the past decade, longitudinal outcome studies have shown that young people getting services based on Open Dialogue generally take fewer medications, have fewer out-of-home interventions, lower treatment costs, and get less disability benefits compared to those receiving other services in Finland (Valtanen et al., 2024; Bergström et al., 2022; Bergström et al., 2023). These promising results have helped Open Dialogue spread internationally.
Other treatments for psychosis also give good immediate results, but over time, their effectiveness drops or isn’t clear.
Check out more here:hopendialogue – an international collaborative study to evaluate the effectiveness of Open Dialogue in various contexts
Christina Lagogianni