The Lure Of The Familiar - Part Two
Defining Change
Change is one of those interesting words which has an extraordinary variety of meanings. Here are three different shades of meaning being flagged up in ordinary language:
- You need to change this dressing.
- Prozac changed him.
- The medical profession’s views on complimentary medicine have changed somewhat.
From these examples we can see that change may involve:
- Replacing or substituting (you need to change this dressing).
- Making something different by introducing a new element (Prozac changed him).
- Altering, varying or modifying (the medical profession’s views on complimentary medicine have changed somewhat).
I think a useful question for any practitioner to consider is ‘what kind of change does this particular client need and want?’ The distinctions above could be one way of starting to explore this question.