#3. A Desire For Health and Motivation To Comply With Treatment Are Not Identical
Let all men, if they can manage it, contrive to be healthy!
~ Thomas Carlyle
Patients want to be healthy. They nonetheless vary in their willingness and capacity to adhere to the prescribed treatment.
It is a mistake to assume that patients will necessarily follow treatment instructions because they want to get well or because they are fearful of the negative outcome of their disorders, even if those consequences are catastrophic.
The goal is to help the patient connect his or her desire for health, as defined by the patient, with a course of treatment that is most likely to be beneficial, also as defined by the patient.