David answers these questions: How do you deal with a
patient (or friend) who is boring? How do you deal with a patient
(or friend) you don’t like? How do you get patients to do their
psychotherapy homework?
How do you deal with a patient (or friend) who is
boring? David describes a technique he learned from a
mentor, Dr. Myles Weber, during his second year of psychiatric
residency at Highland Hospital in Oakland. The technique works
instantly 100% of the time, and is guaranteed to make any
boring interaction with any patient instantly exciting! David and
Fabrice emphasize that the same technique can be used with a
friend, colleague, or loved one who seems boring, including someone
you are dating and can’t seem to connect with at anything other
than a superficial level.David also describes powerful, shocking
and illuminating experiences he had when attending psychodrama
marathons sponsored by the Human Institute in Palo Alto during his
medical school years, and what he learned about the differences
between the off-putting “outer” selves we display to others and the
more genuine “inner” selves we often try to hide.
How do you deal with a patient (or friend) you don’t
like? David describes a method he always used with
patients he didn’t like, including one who he found intensely
offensive—even disgusting. He explains that the patients he
disliked the most almost always became the ones he liked the most,
and ended up feeling the closest to, once he used this radical
technique. The technique can also be effective with friends or
colleagues you’re at odds with.Fabrice reminds us that the
approaches David describes in this podcast involve several of the
Five Secrets of Effective Communication discussed in previous
podcasts. He warns us that they require considerable training,
skill and practice, and are likely to backfire if done
crudely.
How do you get patients to do their psychotherapy
homework? Every therapist who assigns psychotherapy
homework is keenly aware that many patients, perhaps most, “forget”
or simply refuse to do the homework. And these are the patients who
don’t improve much, if at all. Dr. Burns explains how he tried
dozens of techniques that didn’t work early in his career, and
finally discovered an approach that was almost always
effective.
About the Podcast
This podcast features David D. Burns MD, author of "Feeling Good, The New Mood Therapy," describing powerful new techniques to overcome depression and anxiety and develop greater joy and self-esteem. For therapists and the general public alike!