With all the advances in technology and AI, we are becoming more and more dependent on our devices.

But there’s one thing that AI can’t replace, the human experience.

It would be epistemologically arrogant to think it could.

The Intervention We Can’t See Or Touch

My brother is a counselor at a high school in Chicago. Our professions have a lot in common.

We were discussing some of the complexities of working with people.

We were talking about how sometimes the specific intervention doesn’t matter. In my field it means it doesn’t matter what specific exercises or manual techniques.

He said he went to a course one time where the instructor said something very powerful:

“The relationship is the intervention”

It resonated with me as much as it did him when he heard it.

The human relationship is a powerful thing. Friendship, love, empathy, and family are all priceless.

This is why it’s important to keep an equal and open working relationship with patients. It shouldn’t be a dictatorship or a sales pitch.

In PT they often refer to this in the literature as therapeutic alliance.

But really, it’s just being a good friend to your patients.