Magic - black or white?
Has modern therapy forgotten ”Primum non nocere" “first do no harm”?
People in authority have power over the future of people they connect with, and with this power comes responsibility to use this power to contribute to the future of these people rather than to shore up their own position.
Too often, professionals will list the possible unwanted consequences of their actions. A surgeon might feel obliged to list all the possible problems of an upcoming surgery to avoid the consequence of a complication happening that they didn’t warn the patient about that could lead to litigation.
When I had my flu injection, the well-meaning nurse felt obliged to list all the possible problems that might occur - a sore arm, mild fever, etc. . I told her, as gently as I could, that I didn’t believe in any of these “medical curses” so we could share the relief of laughing together.
My favourite story about a patient reclaiming her dignity in the face of medical authority’s power is a woman in her late 70s saying that in her 30s she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She asked the doctor about her prognosis and he replied that she’d be dead in 3 months. She replied “Go fuck yourself” and was in her late 70s when she related this! I chuckle every time I recall this story.
A man wanted to have hypnosis to stop smoking but was concerned because he read in a medical journal that hypnosis was only effective in 60% of cases. He told me he was amazingly lucky because he managed to escape from Hungary just before the border was closed. He said he was lucky because his chances of escaping were less than 1%. I challenged him, saying that he should go back since his chances were only 1%. He realised that even though his chances were only 1%, he was 100% successful. He was reassured and had a good result.
How can we use any authority we happen to have to contribute to the wellbeing of anyone under our care?
How can we balance the reality of a situation with the future?
Statistics can give us a hint, but let’s not assume that they are absolute.
Paul Wazlawick quipped “Statistics are like bikinis - what they reveal is fascinating, but what they conceal is vital”.
If a client or colleague is certain about a future outcome for a client, I like to challenge them to tell me what the Tatslotto numbers are for next Saturday. No-one has been able to tell me yet.
All we can do is present the statistics, then emphasise that no-one can predict this unique person’s future, and then, perhaps, have a conversation with this individual about what might be helpful for them to make it more likely that they could skew their outcome to their benefit.
