wellpdx

Somehow in the counseling field, the word “resistance” seems to have become a catchall term for all the unhelpful things that interfere with therapy. Perhaps the client is late, forgets to bring up important topics until the very end of session, doesn’t practice her new skills at home, or is flat out non-compliant. We see that the client isn’t making the progress we’d hoped for, or maybe not in the planned number of sessions.

With my clients who are getting or staying clean & sober, there is often resistant self-talk like: “it’s not a problem;” “the problem isn’t that serious;” or “I can’t do anything about the problem.” This resistance is generally seen as something to see through or get past.

But as I work with clients in helping them find their own voice, listen to their body and trust their gut, the more I wonder about the nature of these resistances. I find a tension between supporting a client to find their own timetable and