There are two emotional aspects of effective patient education.

For the patient: It’s the emotional enrollment necessary for learning. This can include curiosity, the desire to understand, or the hope of a better tomorrow. Without this emotional piece, your attempts to teach, educate, or stimulate learning are likely to be frustratingly ineffective.

Two strategies may be helpful. Both involve asking questions:

“Would you be curious about how your condition often plays out in the future?”

“What are you hoping to do, or enjoy more, when you regain your health?”

For the chiropractor: It’s the emotional detachment necessary to maintain appropriate boundaries. Which means caring, but not caring too much. It also means honoring the patient’s free will agency to treat (or neglect) their body as they see fit; that what a patient does is not a reflection of you.

Ask yourself:

“Why do I want it more than the patient?”

Bill Esteb has been a chiropractic patient and advocate since 1981. He is the creative director of Patient Media and the co-founder of Perfect Patients. He’s been a regular speaker at chiropractic gatherings since 1985. His 12 books explore the doctor/patient relationship from a patient's point of view. His chiropractic blog, coaching program, patient focus groups and consulting calls have helped hundreds of chiropractors around the world. Since 1999 Monday Morning Motivation has been emailed to over 10,000 subscribers each week.