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Language is such a powerful thing and the art of ‘reframing’, to express a concept differently in order to facilitate a fresh perspective, can be the difference between engagement and disengagement. I see the power of this in my clinic and with each year of practice I pay more and more attention to this aspect.   I’ve come to appreciate, that the way I describe what’s happening in someone’s health and the way I articulate what their role is in their own recovery, is such a key determinant of what my patients leave with and ultimately the success of treatment.

Recently at a conference I heard an international speaker, a doctor and researcher, take a blow torch to the language we use around insulin resistance and diabetes.  It went something like this:

When we tell a patient, ‘you are lactose intolerant’, it is absolutely clear to that patient what they need to do, the understanding that they must not eat lactose is implicit and clear.  There is no grey. When we say to a patient you have insulin resistance or diabetes, most patients are still left wondering, essentially none the wiser about the absoluteness and simplicity of their diagnosis. We need to change our language, we need to say quite simply to our patients, ‘You are carbohydrate intolerant’.  

The message changes, the message is suddenly not cryptic and the patient hears a clear directive.  I think this one is a gem. I have been talking to my patients about their ‘carbohydrate intolerance’ and it’s having a dramatic effect on patients’ ownership of their health and their ability to make good decisions around this.

Rather than the ambiguity and complexity of contemplating the GI of foods, trying to sift through concepts of fructose and glucose content, complex or simple carbohydrates, patients instead are left with one simple resounding take home message when they are making food choices, “I am carbohydrate intolerant”.

Loving it.  Hope you do too 🙂

If you didn’t hear Azita Moradi’s interview earlier this year on how to talk with patients – then you missed out.  We received overwhelming positive feedback from practitioners about the wisdom Azita shared and the practical insights gained in terms of how to improve patient engagement and facilitate behavioural change.  The recording comes with a set of additional resources that will reinforce some of the key tools you already know and introduce you to many more which, just like our language, can be the difference between success and failure in our management of patients health and our desperate need for them to take ownership.  Check it out.