Hannah: Yes! I totally agree about how painful it may to confront a belief in a treatment approach. We have invested time, cognitive and creative energy personalizing it for a client, so in one sense, it has become personal for us, too. I think one of the biggest realizations I had when I first became a clinician (and it was a realization that emerged slowly) was just how “personally” I could take therapy even if I was thoughtful about leaving “work” at work. But to answer your question, I don’t think it necessarily has to be painful. There is a word in your question that is important, “ongoing.” It seems reasonable that we want to find the solution that is going to be the perfect approach for our client. But, perhaps the perfect approach is not the end but the means, or the process, that we use to get there. We know our client is dynamic, so maybe we will begin to love the ongoing questioning of ‘is this really working’ when we accept that our approach may have to change even if it previously was successful. Do you think that we resist asking those tough, “Is this really working?,” questions because confronting them requires more of our resources?
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Diving into EBP: An Experiment in Conversation
Part 5
Hannah: Yes! I totally agree about how painful it may to confront a belief in a treatment approach. We have invested time, cognitive and creative energy personalizing it for a client, so in one sense, it has become personal for us, too. I think one of the biggest realizations I had when I first became a clinician (and it was a realization that emerged slowly) was just how “personally” I could take therapy even if I was thoughtful about leaving “work” at work. But to answer your question, I don’t think it necessarily has to be painful. There is a word in your question that is important, “ongoing.” It seems reasonable that we want to find the solution that is going to be the perfect approach for our client. But, perhaps the perfect approach is not the end but the means, or the process, that we use to get there. We know our client is dynamic, so maybe we will begin to love the ongoing questioning of ‘is this really working’ when we accept that our approach may have to change even if it previously was successful. Do you think that we resist asking those tough, “Is this really working?,” questions because confronting them requires more of our resources?
