Follows Section 8 on Map 2
Perhaps this is obvious.

Treatment consists, to a great extent, in working together to pool therapist and patient resources to come up with better solutions to the patient’s problems. You as therapist have general knowledge of people, situations, effective treatments, etc. The patient knows the specifics of his/her situation, and may already have done some research on possible diagnoses and treatments.

Your ability to gather information about the person [ Section 10 ] depends on your ability to establish an alliance with him/her, [ Section 11 ] to the point that he/she feels comfortable sharing it with you. And some of that information is likely to be sensitive – things that he/she really doesn’t want anyone to know.

Your ability to make the person feel comfortable with you is at least partly based on your initial understanding of him/her.

So: the two aspects must be pursued simultaneously, each aspect depending on the other.

You hope that increased sharing of information will lead to increased comfort with the treatment process, and that as the person becomes more comfortable, the issues can be understood more effectively.