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[–] Sire 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

As a doctor you're trained to show empathy to one's situation. In the end a patient tends to comply more often and better with treatment, so the human kindness def plays a part.

If repeat treatments don't seem to help putting your foot down as a doctor can certainly serve as a wake-up call. Or any kind of shock-treatment for that matter. An example is a doctor having a big jar full of blackish liquid on his desk, and when a patient asks about it he explains that it's the amount of tar a smoker puts in his lungs while smoking a pack a day for a year.

Very often non-compliance boiles down to people making excuses and not be willing to accept a more or less harsh truth. Educating them solves a lot of misinformation and half-truths (quite common with American obesity on the internet).

Of course it's a person's own choice to follow treatment or not, but a doctor's authority should be enough at least to get a patient to start thinking about what's best. Shock therapy can help, but usually as a last resort, in my experience.