thanks again so much! that metaphor, to the flu, sounds incredibly useful indeed.

What I'm understanding is that, really, any interventions or coping skills are OK provided that the client's attitude is one of "cope with it, make myself comfortable and able to tolerate the symptom(s) till it passes" rather than "defeat it, make it go away, it is unacceptable / dangerous". that being said, certain strategies such as PRN benzos or even cognitive distraction are risky because the client can easily slip into using these to "get rid" of the anxiety feelings. am I understanding this correctly? technically, if they are less than convinced about the notion of acceptance, than even interventions such as rational responding can become "weapons" - I'm assuming the proof is in the pudding... if the client gets better, they must be doing it correctly. if they aren't, we need to go back and make sure that the tools we've given them aren't being "misused"

Just wanted to make sure I'm understanding clearly :-)