Client* – I do not sleep at night,  I have nightmares, I do not know what will be and it’s not under my control

 Note* – this is a “combat fatique”  victim  who participated in the battles and lost friends in combat.

“Reasonable” comment: “can you tell me why you feel guilty, and why you punish yourself for so many years”

A solution-oriented approach comment: “I think it would be not functional for you to stop feeling guilty now. If you stop punishing yourself now, no one around you will accept the change and you may be punished more for all the years of suffering and pain caused to them. It is common knowledge that nobody is trying to hurt someone in a difficult situation. Anyway, even if you want to change we have to figure out how to do it slowly without letting the guilt at this point

The logical response is not different from what the client already is doing; hiding  the sense of responsibility under the shadow of guilt, that he should not take seriously the thoughts because it is “irrational.”

The second reaction is different; while accepting the “guilt”  it is re-defined to conceal it wise, at one level saying  to him, “feel guilty” and then defining the guilt so that makes the position of “guilt” difficult to preserve