{"id":408,"date":"2015-01-06T11:23:53","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T17:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unk.com\/blog\/?p=408"},"modified":"2024-04-12T06:33:56","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T12:33:56","slug":"how-to-deal-with-the-expert-therapy-client","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unk.com\/blog\/how-to-deal-with-the-expert-therapy-client\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Your Client Psycho-babble?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>&#8220;My last therapist said that the source of my anxiety was based in an Oedipus Complex from a childhood event and I should read these books and really analyze my denial about the narcissism that causes this co-dependency&#8230;&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Have you ever had a client who sounded like a self-help book? Whose every other word was psychobabble or therapeutic jargon?<\/p>\n<p>Did they constantly refer back to the words and interventions of previous therapists? Or maybe they analyzed <em>everything<\/em>, dwelling on the minute details.<\/p>\n<h3>Prefer to watch instead?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"video-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XrnpsGhDvtI?si=M3W9usnKDWh4xHC4&amp;rel=0\" title=\"Watch Does Your Client Psycho-babble?\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>And then when you try to help with your own interventions, it can be difficult to find an in-road because they &#8216;see what you did there&#8217; or &#8216;already tried that&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>You may be dealing with a client who has been &#8216;over-therapied&#8217;.<\/p>\n<h3>How does someone become an &#8216;professional client&#8217;?<\/h3>\n<p>Of course, some people have had many different therapists and hundreds of therapy sessions because they genuinely need help for severe psychological suffering. But &#8216;more&#8217; isn&#8217;t necessarily &#8216;better&#8217; &#8211; and the &#8216;over-therapied&#8217; may have become confused by all the theory they have been fed.<\/p>\n<p>The original complaint that led them to therapy may have been something quite simple. But it&#8217;s a persistent\u00a0notion that psychological problems <em>always<\/em> have &#8216;deep roots&#8217; and many people are easily persuaded that treatment <i>needs<\/i> to be complex and drawn out. Not to mention expensive.<br \/>\n\nIdeally, therapy works fluidly &#8216;behind the scenes&#8217;, so we <em>stop<\/em> analyzing every thought or feeling and <em>regain<\/em> perspective instead of losing it to constant introspection. If therapy instead becomes an intrusive &#8216;reference point&#8217; used in\u00a0every situation, things have gone too far.<\/p>\n<p>If you suspect psychotherapy has become your client&#8217;s\u00a0raison d&#8217;\u00eatre, then that&#8217;s an additional problem, and one that will have to be dealt with before you can hope to make much progress on their original (perhaps now ancient) issue.<\/p>\n<h2>Here are three parts of a tonic you can serve for suspected therapeutic &#8216;indigestion&#8217;<\/h2>\n<h3>1. Differentiate this therapy from their past experiences<\/h3>\n<p>Make it clear that you are not like other therapists. Tell your client that you (and they) have no need to talk psychobabble or theory. You might say something like, &#8220;I&#8217;m a nuts and bolts kind of person, so I need to hear things in simple, everyday terms.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>2. Set clear therapy goals<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unk.com\/blog\/how-to-help-your-clients-achieve-their-therapy-goals\/\">Clear, achievable, and time-limited goals<\/a> are essential for good therapy. It&#8217;s amazing how many &#8216;professional clients&#8217; seem to have forgotten what therapy is supposed to be <i>for<\/i>.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Get needs met outside of therapy<\/h3>\n<p>People who have been in therapy for a long time are particularly at risk for unconsciously using their therapy sessions as a substitute for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hypnosisdownloads.com\/blog\/the-primal-human-needs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">meeting their primal human needs<\/a> &#8211; especially for attention, company, and a sense of purpose and meaning.<\/p>\n<div class='essb-ctt essb-ctt-modern' onclick=\"window.open('https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=Long-term+therapy+clients+risk+unconsciously+using+sessions+as+a+substitute+for+meeting+their+primal+human+needs.&amp;via=marktyrell&amp;related=marktyrell&amp;url=https:\/\/www.unk.com\/blog\/how-to-deal-with-the-expert-therapy-client\/', 'essb_share_window', 'height=300,width=500,resizable=1,scrollbars=yes');\">\r\n    \t\t\t<span class='essb-ctt-quote'>\r\n    \t\t\tLong-term therapy clients risk unconsciously using sessions as a substitute for meeting their primal human needs.\r\n    \t\t\t<\/span>\r\n    \t\t\t<span class='essb-ctt-button'><span>Click to Tweet<\/span><i class='essb_svg_icon_twitter'><svg class=\"essb-svg-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"img\" focusable=\"false\" width=\"32\" height=\"32\" viewBox=\"0 0 32 32\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M28.75 9.5c0 0.25 0 0.563 0 0.813 0 8.688-6.625 18.688-18.688 18.688-3.688 0-7.188-1.063-10.063-2.938 0.5 0.063 1.063 0.063 1.563 0.063 3.063 0 5.938-1 8.188-2.813-2.875 0-5.313-1.938-6.188-4.563 0.438 0.125 0.813 0.125 1.25 0.125 0.625 0 1.188-0.063 1.75-0.188-3-0.625-5.25-3.313-5.25-6.438 0-0.063 0-0.063 0-0.125 0.875 0.5 1.875 0.813 2.938 0.813-1.75-1.125-2.938-3.188-2.938-5.438 0-1.188 0.375-2.313 0.938-3.313 3.188 4 8.063 6.625 13.5 6.875-0.125-0.5-0.188-1-0.188-1.5 0-3.625 2.938-6.563 6.563-6.563 1.938 0 3.625 0.813 4.813 2.063 1.5-0.313 2.938-0.813 4.188-1.563-0.5 1.5-1.563 2.813-2.875 3.625 1.313-0.188 2.563-0.5 3.75-1.063-0.875 1.313-2 2.5-3.25 3.438z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i>\r\n    \t\t<\/div>\n<p>Clients may sometimes need your help switching over to meeting these needs outside the consulting room, so that therapy itself doesn&#8217;t become an (expensive) addiction for them. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unk.com\/blog\/solution-focused-questions-scaling-in-therapy\/\" data-wplink-edit=\"true\">Therapy should be a solution<\/a>, not part of their problem!<\/p>\n<p>In no way am I suggesting that <i>everyone<\/i> who&#8217;s had therapy before is like this, but the &#8216;professional client&#8217; will be recognizable to any therapist who has been around a while. And they may be quite unaware of the trap they have fallen into.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>3 techniques for dealing with difficult therapy clients who are &#8216;experts&#8217; and have heard it all before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[32],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Does Your Client 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