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Your treatment sounds wise, exemplary and certainly in the best
interests of the patient. I would like, however, to suggest there was one
process missing in the treatment of the patient.
A patient whose whole life is geared to ailments and their treatment
has another more serious problem. What is she to do with her time and
energy if she has her only preoccupation taken away from her? Without her
normal routine, this patient (who sounds like she is at least slightly
obsessive-compulsive) needed to have something to fill the hours she was
spending treating herself with something equally rewarding. A person who
loses a long-held habit or activity needs to build new interests and
habits if he/she is to avoid becoming depressed and isolated.
Without knowing the patient, it is impossible to know what would have
appealed to her as a new interest, but as you praised her weekly
accomplishments, it would have been a good time to say something like,
"You are so observant about your needs that I bet you would be good at
noticing what others need" or that keen observation skills are shared by
artists, crafters, nature lovers, bird watchers, etc. She might have had
life experience that would have suited her for rewarding volunteer work or
have taken up a new hobby through a local community centre.
Sometimes, the answer is to give the patient an assignment to make a
list of all the things they consider to be fun to do or things they wish
they had tried or learned in their lifetime. As they focus on the new,
they can obsess about something other than themselves, gently letting go
of the old destructive habit.
You are obviously a very caring doctor. I hope the above suggestions
will be useful to you in your practice.
Reducing Drug Intake Requires One New Prescription
Your treatment sounds wise, exemplary and certainly in the best
interests of the patient. I would like, however, to suggest there was one
process missing in the treatment of the patient.
A patient whose whole life is geared to ailments and their treatment
has another more serious problem. What is she to do with her time and
energy if she has her only preoccupation taken away from her? Without her
normal routine, this patient (who sounds like she is at least slightly
obsessive-compulsive) needed to have something to fill the hours she was
spending treating herself with something equally rewarding. A person who
loses a long-held habit or activity needs to build new interests and
habits if he/she is to avoid becoming depressed and isolated.
Without knowing the patient, it is impossible to know what would have
appealed to her as a new interest, but as you praised her weekly
accomplishments, it would have been a good time to say something like,
"You are so observant about your needs that I bet you would be good at
noticing what others need" or that keen observation skills are shared by
artists, crafters, nature lovers, bird watchers, etc. She might have had
life experience that would have suited her for rewarding volunteer work or
have taken up a new hobby through a local community centre.
Sometimes, the answer is to give the patient an assignment to make a
list of all the things they consider to be fun to do or things they wish
they had tried or learned in their lifetime. As they focus on the new,
they can obsess about something other than themselves, gently letting go
of the old destructive habit.
You are obviously a very caring doctor. I hope the above suggestions
will be useful to you in your practice.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests