Why Clients Disregard Evidence-Based Self-Care Skills

"No client enters therapy with a problem of deficient self-care or relaxation skills. Yet, common mental health recommendations, such as these, can be helpful. Why do some clients reject them? "Yeah, yeah. I tried, but it didn't work for me." "When would I have time for that?""

"The very reason self-care skills, such as exercising, eating well, sleeping enough, and using relaxation skills, are helpful is often the reason that the person does not succeed in using them. Sometimes clients aren't relaxed or able to take care of themselves because of their mental health concerns. Self-care may feel like an unaffordable luxury. Their time is swallowed up by what brings them in for treatment."

"Standard recommendations, if given out of the gate, serve as a dismissal of their experience. "Haven't you heard me? Don't you know what I am going through? How could you possibly imagine that I can do that?" Focusing prematurely on these skills may cause recommendations to seem generic and unrelated to the reason the person sought help."

"How can you identify important self-care skills that would be useful and then weave them into a client's regular life? Here are some suggestions: Identify why they are seeing you and do a deep dive into their concerns before suggesting strategies. What is their goal? Deep, active listening and processing of the person's story is the best place to begin when meeting a new client. This focus on the unique story of this client will be the start to developing a helpful plan, often including self-care."

Clients often reject self-care recommendations because the skills feel like an unaffordable luxury, because their time is consumed by the concerns that brought them to therapy, or because the recommendations seem generic and dismissive. Self-care can be difficult to apply when mental health symptoms reduce relaxation and self-management capacity. Standard advice given immediately can ignore the client’s experience and make the guidance feel unrelated to why they sought help. Effective planning starts with deep, active listening and a thorough understanding of the client’s unique story and goals. Self-care strategies should be identified based on what would be useful for that person and then integrated into their regular life by considering benefits and obstacles.

Read at Psychology Today