Discuss the different kinds of resistance and how you plan to deal with resistant clients.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

?There is certainly the obvious tough, violent kind, but there is also the seductive, conning kind. There is the silent, noncompliant kind, and the emotionally distraught kind.
?Whatever the variety of resistance, your job is to seek the person within and behind the resistant façade.
?Remember that the resistant behaviors you see now may be the result of years of experience in learning how to survive in difficult, unpredictable environments.
?Culture and cultural differences play a role in negotiating common ground in a new counseling relationship as well. There may be significant, logical reasons for someone to distrust a counselor who is seen as representing the interests of government, or a ruling majority, or some predominant cultural paradigm.
?A counselor who works for a public service agency or a school may be seen as rep-resenting the interests of the government that supports those institutions, and that may breed distrust. Some people come from cultures where it is seen as inappropriate and a violation of norms to reveal personal or family information. In a variety of ways, if a counselor and a client are from different cultural backgrounds, cultural differences may be interpreted as resistance by the counselor.
?Counselors need to be aware of the cultural differences and political realities that their clients bring to counseling. We need to sharpen our cultural and political sensitivities, learn what we can about cultural difference, and heighten our “cultural empathy”.
?It is imperative that we recognize and not minimize these political and cultural issues and that we not overinterpret differences as simple resistance.
?A new client may come to your office displaying his disdain for counseling, for you as a person, and for the need to be there. He may well be someone who has frequently been coerced into counseling by a judge, a parent or teacher, or a partner, and without that push he would not be seeking help.
?If the client seems hostile and aggressive in some out-of-control ways, and you find yourself wondering about his grasp of reality, you may need to call for an outside assessment. Some clients may have had years of experience with social service agencies and may be very savvy to the ways of counseling. So savvy, in fact, that their resistance is cleverly hidden beneath a veneer of niceness and compliance. Your client, in short, may be a con artist. This passive form of resistance may be even more recalcitrant in its sophistication.
?There are some key things to remember in working with resistant clients—both the hostile and the manipulative types. First, you need to manage your own fearfulness.
If you are afraid of this person, you will not be able to afford much help. Your work