One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made as a physician is dismissing patients w/medically unexplained symptoms. Reading Dr. Sarno’s work taught me the importance of listening to patients & the need to understand the human being, not the patient, that is experiencing the symptoms
It’s so easy to dismiss patients symptoms and “mental” or “psychological”. Even if you felt that was a doctor, it is your duty to address their mental health and psychological welfare in a compassionate way.
Let’s say that your worst fear as a physician is correct, that a patient with medically unexplained symptoms exacerbates with stress and worsening mental health. How should you approach this? With dismissiveness and anger? Or with compassion and a safe environment?
When, as a physician, you are able to listen. You just might quiet tour patients ego enough, to let them discover their own internal emotional and psychological issues. And this discovery is BEYOND therapeutic.
But if you play “House MD” and tell them they are crazy, you will not grow as a physician and your patients will gain no insight.
And this need for listening and need to reject dismissiveness applies to patients that disagree with your assessment. If a patient disagrees with you and you feel strongly about it, view it as your own failure as a communicator, not their failure to trust you.
If you feel strongly about something, continue the education overtime. BRING THAT PATIENT CLOSER. Don’t push them away.
It’s hard as a physician seeing 50 patients a day, for 5-10 minutes each, to remember our ideals. It’s sad that our medical landscape doesn’t foster a more bonding physician-patient relationship.
I never want to be that doctor. I hope that life will let me hold onto my ideals.
(Sorry about the spelling)
*Even if you felt that way as a doctor”
*Even if you felt that way as a doctor”
