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Effective Techniques for Dealing With Highly Resistant Clients: Innovative Ideas and Approaches to Prevent, Avoid, and Resolve Resistance

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About the Course

This course presents hundreds of practical, stress-reducing techniques and approaches for dealing with your most difficult clients. Theories of resistance are examined and a model presented that empowers mental health professionals to resolve roadblocks in therapy. Topics addressed include: therapist errors that create resistance, specific techniques for managing resistance, problems with excessive questioning, dealing with “I don’t know” and “Yes, but” responses, dealing with challenges to therapists from clients, and dealing with silence. These techniques are applicable across a wide array of clients and problems, and can be integrated with all theoretical approaches. Emphasis will be on “how to” aspects of resistance management, though the theory behind each approach is provided. This book is a valuable resource that both the working professional and student will turn to when seeking realistic, pragmatic ideas and strategies for overcoming stagnation and creating therapeutic movement.

This course is based on the book, Effective Techniques for Dealing With Highly Resistant Clients: Innovative Ideas and Approaches to Prevent, Avoid, and Resolve Resistance created by Clifton Mitchell Ph.D.

Course Material Author

Clifton Mitchell Ph.D.
Clifton Mitchell Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist, has a love for teaching and over 17 years experience as a trainer and motivational speaker. For the past ten years, he has studied and presented seminars on methods for dealing with resistance in therapy. In his book, Effective Techniques for Dealing with Highly Resistant Clients, he compiled the best ideas and approaches on managing resistance that, before now, were scattered throughout the mental health literature. He has published in numerous professional journals including the Journal of Personality Assessment, Perceptual and Motor Skills, Psychology and Education, Journal of Psychological Type, The Professional School Counselor, and The Advocate. His ideas and writings have also been published in Men’s Health Today and Barron’s Financial Weekly. Dr. Mitchell is currently a professor of counseling at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee where he received the Teacher of the Year award in 2002.

Clifton Mitchell Ph.D. authored the material only, and was not involved in creating this CE course. They are identified here for your own evaluation of the relevancy of the material this course is based on.

Course Creator

Course Objectives:

After taking this course, you should be able to:

  1. Differentiate between conventional and modern definitions of resistance. Participants will be able to conceptualize resistance in a manner that empowers them to avoid, circumvent, and utilize it for client benefit.
  2. Describe and understand the most common errors therapists make that foster and promote client resistance. Explain the pitfalls of over-questioning when working with resistant clients and how to employ more effective alternative approaches.
  3. Identify nine basic, overriding principles for dealing with resistance in therapeutic environments. Explain the importance of tending to each principle in therapeutic relationships in order to tactfully manage resistance.
  4. Understand and explain the inherent power of language with regards to resistance. Employ numerous specific linguistic techniques that circumvent resistance and create therapeutic movement.
  5. Understand methods for dealing with common difficulties such as “Yes, but?” and “I don’t know” responses.

Disclosure to Learners

Disclosure of Relevant Financial Relationships

CE Learning Systems adheres to the ACCME's Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Medical Education. Any individuals in a position to control the content of a CE activity – including faculty, planners, reviewers, or others ― are required to disclose all relevant financial relationships with ineligible entities (formerly known as commercial interests).

The following relevant financial relationships have been disclosed by this activity's planners, faculty, and the reviewer:

Planners and Reviewers

The planners of this activity have reported that they have no relevant financial relationships.

Faculty: Keith Gibson, Ph.D.

There are no relevant disclosures.

Commercial support

There is no commercial support for this distance-learning course.

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    To complete the course, review the course objectives, then review the material, and then pass the exam with a score of 75% or greater and lastly complete an evaluation.

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Course Retired
Course Number 100311
7 CE credit hours
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Exam Fee $41.79
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