You ask:
I work as a dietician and I love my work. My question is about how useful inner conflict theory is going to be to me.
My clients do get stuck when improving their diet, making a big change in their lifestyle, or cutting down on the 'bad things' such as alcohol and sugar. They want to succeed, but but then give in to temptation. That said, I'm never sure what's going on for them, and if I do know, I often find myself lacking ways forward.
My key questions are: Can I help my clients with inner conflict even though I'm not a therapist? And if so, will the Torn Project be helpful to me with that?
We answer:
A big yes to both your key questions. In general, you don't need therapy training to help others resolve inner conflicts so long as you're aware of when a conflict is serious enough to need specialist help.
And if you're working as a professional practitioner, what we offer through The Torn Project will be useful.
I'd go further. My bet is that a majority of your patients will be torn. Fat jabs aside, the ability to follow a healthy diet triggers all sorts of conflicted feelings, as a person's physical appetite goes to war with their emotional desire to stay healthy and slim in a society which exerts huge pressure for them to do so.
The work we've been doing at the University of Cambridge with consultant medics has shown us very clearly how important it is to know how to spot inner conflict in patients and ethically guide them through to resolutions. There are already resources on this site and in our podcasts that will help you to start to understand the whole field. As we develop, we'll be talking to more specialists who can offer more direct answers for individual professional issues.
One last thing: In any profession, it's also important to be aware of your own conflicts. What are the issues, the situations – and the patients – which make you feel torn? Get more aware of that and you'll not only be more content in yourself but also do an even better job for your patients.