Posted by Lance Dodes, M.D. on February 14, 19100 at 22:23:30:
In Reply to: Substance abuse counseling posted by T. Gilbert student on January 17, 19100 at 18:35:36:
Dear Mr. Gilbert,
Your question is very interesting. There are clearly some people who cannot believe that a therapist or counselor can respect them or know what they feel unless they perceive the counselor to be "like" them. Any difference in effectiveness of recovering and non-recovering counselors would seem to depend on whether this characteristic was present in the patient, assuming equal degrees of training in both groups of couselors. In my experience, only a minority of patients are so resistant to working with a non-recovering counselor that the treatment cannot progress.
Lance Dodes, M.D.