Six things patients hold back, and how a therapist finds them
Patients often keep back a habit, a home remedy, a stopped medicine or a second complaint. A plan built on a history with a gap fails slowly, so Neurotherapy (LMNT) teaches how to look first, ask in private, and ask the family separately.
Overview
A plan built on a history with a hole in it fails slowly, over weeks, while the therapist changes a plan that should not have been changed and the patient quietly loses faith. Six things are commonly kept back: a habit the patient is ashamed of, a private home remedy, a medicine that was stopped, a symptom thought irrelevant, a symptom thought too small to mention, and a second complaint.
Look before you ask. Much of what a patient will not say is written on them: stained teeth and gums from a long pan or gutka habit, yellowed fingers, the callus of years of squatting at work, the way someone lowers themselves into a chair. A question about something you have seen is easier to answer than one out of the air.
Never take a private history in front of everyone in the room. Ask the last, more personal questions with the patient alone, and say it as routine: I ask everyone these on their own. Where a chaperone is needed, keep the chaperone and send away the audience; they are different people. Then ask the family separately. One sentence from a daughter about a powder taken for eleven years can outweigh a whole session of guessing.
Some questions should wait for trust, such as questions about drinking, diet rules or stopped medicines. Instead, ask what was eaten and taken yesterday, meal by meal, and work it out yourself.
Key points
- Six common silences: habit, home remedy, stopped medicine, irrelevant symptom, small symptom, second complaint.
- Look first; many answers are visible before any question is asked.
- Private questions are asked alone, never in front of an audience.
- Ask the family separately; they are the best single source.
Go deeper
Taking a patient’s history: the right order of questions
The right order of questions in a first history
Taking a Patient's Story: The History That Cannot Mislead
The history that cannot mislead you: the full guide
Consent, dignity and a chaperone during treatment
Consent, dignity and the chaperone
How to tell a patient to see a doctor
How to tell a patient to see a doctor
When the Hand Must Stop: Blocked Points and Safety in Neurotherapy (LMNT)
When the hand must stop
Read the full guide
This topic is part of: Taking a Patient's Story: The History That Cannot Mislead
Safety: when it is held back
- Some questions must be asked of everyone, every time, because delay is the only real danger: blood from anywhere, weight loss without trying, a new lasting change in bowel or bladder habit, chest pain on effort, a new or worst-ever headache, new weakness or a drooping face, a new or growing lump, fever with a stiff neck or a rash that does not fade when pressed. These need a doctor’s opinion this week. How to tell a patient to see a doctor
This page explains what a Neurotherapy (LMNT) treatment is for; it is not a self-treatment guide and does not diagnose. Neurotherapy (LMNT) works alongside your medical care — keep taking the medicines your doctor prescribed.