Imagine you are at the checkout in a supermarket.
As he sees your purchases, the cashier starts to look concerned. He starts asking pointed questions about your diet. He doesn't seem to like your answers. He refuses to scan any more of your items and calls a supervisor.
The supervisor berates you about your terrible choices. She then goes on to tell you that if you carry on eating this way, you are not going to live much longer. Finally, she writes out a list of costly foods that you should be eating and instructs you to go and get them.
That would be ridiculous, and you wouldn't be going back in a hurry!
Fear is the most negative of emotions.
Most companies avoid it or use it sparingly in their marketing.
The only places you'll find it employed with enthusiasm is in criminal protection rackets and health care.
It's the one thing I hate about our business.
Clients are already anxious and stressed. They are in pain. Often for reasons they don't understand.
The therapist is in a position of power in this situation. With expert knowledge, it is so easy to pile on more pressure.
Many patients I talk to have been given the hard sell from other practitioners.
Told that their spine is crumbling, bones are out, joints are disintegrating etc.
And the only solution is an indefinite course of treatment.
There seems to be a depressingly large number of therapists out there who want to terrify people into using their services. Whose ambition is to make their patients totally dependent.
Addicted even.
As well as being dishonest, this also becomes self-defeating. People see through it eventually.
Using fear is a dead end.
At the Osteopath Centre, we prefer to accentuate the positive.