Working with complex clients can quietly invite an understandable fantasy: If I get the formulation right, if I find the right modality, if I stay steady enough… I can carry them through. It often comes from care, not ego. Many of us entered this work because we genuinely can’t bear unnecessary suffering. But here’s the tension: the more responsibility we take for a client’s progress, the more accountable we become when progress stalls, reverses, or fractures. If we’re not ca
