The Most Important Thing You Can Give a Patient Isn't a Treatment

Welcome back to the New Generation Massage Therapist podcast.

I'm Jamie Johnston, and today we're going into element three of Hobb Falls 5, the promotion of self-efficacy.

And just to be upfront with you, this one might challenge some of the ways we've been trained to think about what a successful treatment actually looks like.

Let's start with what self-efficacy actually is, because it's one of those terms that gets thrown around a lot without a lot of explanation.

Self-efficacy is a person's belief in their own ability to get through a problem and to do so on their own terms, not with your help, not because they came in for an appointment, on their own.

That second part is the part most of us forget.

We spend a lot of energy helping people feel better in the room, and that's important, don't get me wrong.

But if every time they feel better, it's because of what we did, we've accidentally taught them something.

that they need us to feel better.

That without the appointment, things don't improve.

That's the opposite of self-efficacy.

And for someone dealing with persistent pain, it can actually make things worse over time.

Here's why.

Pain and disability can improve over time, and the research is clear on this.

But that improvement is heavily influenced by two things.

recovery expectations, and coping behaviors.

In other words, what a person believes about their ability to recover and what they actually do about it.

When we position ourselves as the fix, we undermine both of those things.

We lower their recovery expectations because if we're the solution, what happens when we're not there? And we reduce their coping behaviors because why develop them if someone else is going to do the work? Self-efficacy is the antidote to that, and it's something we can actively promote, starting in the treatment room during every single session.