From one physician to another, let's face it; the practice of medicine is inherently traumatic. Are you surprised by this? Well if so then I would suggest that you are likely out of touch with your feelings, especially your feelings of sadness. That is because a normal response to experiencing and carrying traumatic memories within you is the emotion of sadness. Most physicians however become experts at "managing" their feelings. By "managing" I really mean "suppressing" rather than "acknowledging" them. This is thought necessary because if one were to allow one's self to feel the onslaught of sadness that goes with all of the illness and suffering one is bombarded with in a given day one would not be able to function, correct? Well where does all of this sadness go? Well in my experience it is unconsciously "pushed" into the body and then sooner or later re-emerges in some way. It can re-emerge say as anxiety, panic, aggressive or disruptive behavior, workaholism, relationship difficulties, drug or alcohol abuse, depression, sexual acting out, poor judgment, and suicidal behavior just to name a few. By adopting the mantle of perfection that medicine offers to its physicians they can find a convenient place to hide from their feelings. The training program and the career that follows are so demanding and hectic that one actually never has the opportunity to stop and actually allow one's self to feel anything. What's more this is considered acceptable by physicians, their families, their peers, their patients, the licensing bodies etc. Such a hiding place is often unconsciously sought out by a great number of individuals who eventually find themselves burning out as physicians. Such individuals generally come from backgrounds where they have experienced their fair share of grief and have desperately sought ways to run from the feelings that this evokes in them. What better way than to wrestle the sadness into submission than by throwing all of one's life energy into one's work. I recall one resident who, while working on his psychiatric rotation, made many deprecating remarks about psychiatry and psychiatrists. What was all this about? Well it was his fear of getting too close to whatever he was feeling inside and actually had little to do with psychiatrists. I'm not sure where he is today but I would be interested to find out how he faired with such a fearful posture. Especially since physicians are exposed to tremendous emotional challenges daily. Throughout one's career there is a cumulative amount of trauma that one necessarily absorbs into one's mind/body. If the physician has no way of "processing" these feelings or no way of developing resilience to what he/she is experiencing then sooner or later there will be trouble. A new modality called the Mind Resonance Process(TM) (MRP) has been shown to help individuals not only release large amounts of trauma quickly and easily from their mind/body but also helps build resilience, inner peace and calm, self esteem and self worth, self respect and self caring, self confidence, a more adaptive and empowered approach to addressing difficult and emotionally challenging situations, enhanced emotional, physical and spiritual health and much more. If you would like to know more about MRP kindly visit the web link below and download a free interactive MRP audio clip. |
