“Wear a Mask” as a Therapy Directive
Curt and Katie chat about COVID, science, and critical thinking in an anti-intellectual, post-truth era. We look at what therapists’ responsibilities are to the greater good, whether we should tell our clients to wear masks, and how to help clients navigate very challenging decisions that must balance mental versus physical health as well as individual versus societal needs.
It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age.
In this episode we talk about:
Should we tell our clients to wear masks?
How do we help our clients navigate the complex decisions related to risk
Client autonomy, transparency of goals, decreasing therapist bias
How science and the greater good come into the equation
Is there a duty to warn? Or duty to protect?
Imminence, privacy issues
Should we try to change behavior around wearing masks in public?
How we address risky behavior with clients
The impact of the presenting problem on deciding what we do
Our responsibility to society, to our communities versus our clients
Psychoeducation and alternate facts
The process of making decisions around health and safety
Sorting through and gaining agreement on what is truth
Therapists needing to be informed and be able to sort through expert information
The importance of critical thinking and the scientific method
Anti-science, anti-intellectualism, and cognitive dissonance
How to meet your client where they are while also not colluding with unhealthy beliefs
Helping our clients to navigate the current challenges to balance physical vs mental health needs, individual vs societal needs
The responsibility to bring up healthy decisions for our clients through psychoeducation
The complexity of decision-making during these times
