Mental well-being

Achievements:
I was waiting for a table at a small restaurant one night, and there was a young women sitting outside clutching her head and moaning and rocking. I didn't know her, and I didn't know if she was just crying or was in pain. I pointed to her and asked someone sitting near her, "Is she ok?" The friend said she was having a migraine. I asked her if she would like an acupuncture treatment in the feet, to relieve the pain, and she cried, "If it will help, yes." I put a needle in each foot, the point corresponding to migraine headaches, and 4 or 5 minutes later, she was acting normal again. She thanked me profusely, and asked how long she should sit there. I asked her if she could hang out for up to 20 minutes, and then I'd remove them. So that's what we did, and she went home feeling fine. I hope she continued to see an acupuncturist somewhere. No - I did not give her my card.

Disappointments:
My patient trying the "stop smoking" protocol missed her last two appointments. I hope she picks up again so we can continue until she is cigarette-free. (We got down from 20 cigs to 5 in a week.) But we as acupuncturists sometimes don't know if someone just feels good enough to quit treatments, or forgot to look at their calendar, or can't afford to continue, or whatever. It's a special treat when someone calls to let us know why they aren't continuing, if we were expecting them to show up.

Struggles:
This topic deserves so much more space than a paragraph. A book would do. I have been told by two friends who are holistic healthcare practitioners, that they have had patients come back to the clinic to complain to them about how they were treated.
A comment made to both of them was, "I didn't like how you kept asking me how I felt during the treatment...you didn't sound confident enough. And I didn't feel like I had the right to answer honestly. I felt like I had to say I was ok. You controlled me."
Other concerns they expressed had to do with the line of questioning during the intake. Even though they only had back pain, for instance, "how dare" the practitioner single them out with embarassing questions about their menstrual cycle, or ask them to show their tongue.
These are steps in every treatment- regardless of complaint- so it seems we are at risk of disturbing some patients who don't know what to expect from a treatment. A tough question now is, do we need to try and detect patients who seem distrusting, from that first phone call? And prepare them more carefully? I'm sure we can't every time, although there are sometimes clues during the first phone call. Then, should we study a protocol for reassuring patients who seem hesitant to answer our questions? Or be thorough in each New Patient treatment with explaining what to expect. Maybe these occurences aren't avoidable, and we just need to be sincere and sympathetic when it happens. I bet the answer is "all of the above." Holistic medicine attracts patients who don't trust or like conventional medicine. But how can we help the patients who don't trust or like any one-on-one, communication-based attention?