Focused ACT: Resistant Patients

When I teach FACT, I sometimes hear people talk about resistant patients or clients. In my experience, I get further with patients and clients that I find challenging when I explore what’s going on inside me at the moment I see them as difficult. Am I feeling afraid or frustrated? Am I assuming that I know what for them? Am I taking a one-up stance with the patient? Is there a conversation in my mind about what is right or wrong at this moment in time? Bottom line: Am I able, even for a moment, to stand in that person’s shoes. If I can, I find that I am more able to continue the conversation without causing harm. And that just might open the door to my finding a loving, helpful way forward in that interaction.