Truth or Lies?
As we work with adult clients who need help with their addictive behavior we often struggle to assess the veracity of their statements. Are they telling the truth about their behavior, and their ability to stay drug free? We tend to expect people to tell us the truth and often believe them. However, many clients start to contradict themselves. We often have some evidence suggesting they have relapsed, such as a recent Urine drug screen. They may have various excuses why it is not accurate. And then we need to confront them and ask directly if they are telling us the truth. This lets them know we doubt them and this may make both of us feel uncomfortable. This is a common experience and something we need to come to terms with. It is certainly difficult to identify when someone is acting, lying, and misleading us.
Phil Feldman, PhD- For more written work by this author see: https://lnkd.in/d6R6j_A
Clinical Director at Journey to Wellness
5 年I agree we need to maintain the trust and alliance
Owner of Breaking Through Barriers Counseling Services LCMHC, LCAS
5 年This is a very challenging area when it comes to counseling and trying to determine truth or lie. It’s vital to the therapeutic alliance to not confront, those struggling with addiction don’t even realize they are being untruthful, if confronted, they will get defensive, I try to be creative, gather other information, to help them see for themselves, very challenging but important not to shatter the trusting relationship! Thanks for the post!