IndexTherapeutic CommunicationNontherapeutic CommunicationConclusionOprah Winfrey's interview with ten-year-old Zachary details his experience with uncontrollable anger and hearing distressing voices. An article, titled "Children Dealing with Violent Rage", published on February 18, 2011, provided information on how Zach's parents realized that Zach had a problem. They explained that starting at the age of eighteen months, Zach threw violent tantrums. He destroyed his room, made holes in the walls and became violent with those around him. There were incidents at school where he tried to stab classmates with scissors, and incidents at home where he expressed thoughts of killing his parents. It was so easy to make Zach angry that his parents were afraid of him. Zach could not be left with babysitters due to multiple experiences of throwing vases and glasses at them and rubbing feces on the walls in front of them. Zach's parents had to learn to modify their home environment to prevent Zach from harming himself and others. Once he asked for help, Zach's official diagnosis was severe ADHD, unspecified mood disorder, and Tourette's syndrome. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay After seeking help, Zach's parents placed him in a school for children with mental illnesses. There, Zach was taught how to deal with the situation and how to exclude negative and harmful thoughts, focusing on positivity. It's called the "White Light" technique. This way of dealing with the situation helped both Zach and his parents tremendously. Zach's parents realized that their negativity was only fueling Zach's behavior, so they also learned coping techniques. Zach now rarely has outrageous or violent outbursts, and if he does, Zach and his parents know the steps to take to calm him. Zach and his parents decided to do an interview with Oprah to allow their story to reach other children going through similar situations and to publicize that help is not unrealistic. Therapeutic Communication Zach's one-on-one interview with Oprah highlighted his therapeutic communication techniques. When talking to Zach, Oprah was an active listener. This was demonstrated by Oprah responding promptly to Zach, maintaining appropriate eye contact and using concerned body language. Oprah began the interview with an open-ended question, asking Zach to describe the difficult time he's going through. She asked several more open-ended questions that allowed Zach to process what he was feeling. For example, after Zach said he feels negative energies when he gets angry, Oprah stated "when the negative energies come, tell me about it, explain it to me." Oprah often used words like “describe this” or “tell me more about that.” Oprah used multiple clarification techniques including paraphrasing, rephrasing, and exploring (Halter, 2018). Oprah stated, "So I think what you're saying is that a lot of people are surrounded by negative energy and they allow it to come in, but they don't know that it's negative energy," to which Zach responded "yes". This is an example of paraphrasing and is therapeutic because Oprah, by reiterating what Zach was explaining, lets him know that he has been heard (Halter, 2018). Zach explained that when he feels calm and peaceful, that's the real him. This prompted Oprah to ask "is this the real you?". Restating specific words spoken by Zach ensures that Oprah is actively listening to Zach. Many of the open-ended questions asked by Oprah.