Patience in Counseling

Working with someone who has practiced surrendering herself to her emotions for years requires much patience. In this type of situation, the counselor must be willing gently to repeat core teachings as often as necessary. Concluding that counselees with severe disturbances are not really trying can have destructive results in their lives. More than one counselor, both spiritual and psychotherapeutic, had basically called Mariana a liar and a drama queen. She certainly could be both at times, but she was also a human being made in the image of God as well as a struggling believer who deserved to be respected as such even if she sometimes had difficulty conforming her behavior to the Bible’s standard (Stuart Scott and Heath Lambert Ed., Counseling the Hard Cases, p. 55).