Unit 5  Section 3Talking to patients about behavior change
Vignette
I grew weaker and more desperate until finally…I called a specialist in in eating disorders. I told her what was going on and that I had no money, and she said to come anyway, because she was afraid I was going to die. SO I went the next day. I sat in her office and explained how I’d gotten started and that I wasn’t ready to stop but that I was getting ready to be ready to stop. She said that was fine. I said that in fact I was going to go home that very night and eat chocolates and Mexican food and then purge. She said fine. I said, “Don’t try to stop me.” She said, “OK.” I said, “There’s nothing you can do to stop me, it’s just the way it is,” and we did this for half an hour or so, until she finally said very gently that she was not going to try to take my bulimia away from me. That she in fact was never going to take anything away from me, because I would try to get it back. But she said that I had some choices.
From Anne Lamott Traveling Mercies, Some thoughts on Faith, p. 193
The purpose of this section is to understand the nature of behavioral change, quitting, and the interventions involved.
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