This was yesterday’s paradoxical tip–
Most therapeutic failure–and patient resistance–results from the therapist’s compulsive urge to “help” or rescue to the patient.
When patients are stuck and not improving in spite of the therapist’s most sincere efforts, the problem nearly ALWAYS results from the fact that the therapist has not dealt with the patient’s resistance. There are two forms of resistance for depression, anxiety, relationship problems, and habits and addictions. In TEAM-CBT, we bring the patient’s resistance to conscious awareness and melt it away with a variety of powerful and compassionate techniques. If the therapist learns how to do this skillfully, it vastly accelerates recovery!
Many (perhaps most) therapists entered the field because they have been wounded personally, and because they want to help others. But this very understandable and compassionate urge can also get in the way of effective treatment. When you jump in and try to help someone who is suffering, they will nearly always resist your efforts. This is not only true in therapy, but also in your interactions with friends, colleagues, and family members who are depressed and anxious.
Of course, compassion IS important and helping IS crucial–but you have to know how to go about it, and that takes training, in my opinion!
Thanks for tuning in today! I have to exit as I am about to supervise one of the Stanford psychiatric residents this afternoon.
David
* Copyright © 2018 by David D. Burns, MD.
Coming This Week! Register Now!
High-Speed TEAM-CBT for Depression and Anxiety Disorders
I warmly invite you to attend this fabulous, one-day workshop by Drs. David Burns and Jill Levitt on Sunday, May 20th, 2018. Click on the link above for registration information.
- 6 CE Credits
- The cost is $135
- You can join in person or online from wherever you live!
You will enjoy learning from David and Jill, working together to bring powerful, healing techniques to life in a clear, step-by-step way. Their teaching style is entertaining, funny, lucid, and inspiring. This is a day you will remember fondly!
In the afternoon, you will have the chance to do some personal healing so you can overcome your own feelings of insecurity and self-doubt. David and Jill promise to bring at least 60% of the audience into a state of spiritual and psychological enlightenment, WITHOUT years of meditation. That’s not a bad deal!
You will also leave this workshop with renewed confidence as well as specific, powerful tools that you can use right away to improve your clinical outcomes!
You will LOVE this workshop. Seating for those who attend live in Palo Alto will be strictly limited, and seats are filling up fast, so move rapidly if you are interested. Online slots are also limited.
Jill and I hope you can join us!
