Discomfort in Medicine
Humberto Correa-Rivero*
Published: June 28, 2022
DOI: 10.55162/MCMS.03.051
Abstract
Arnold-Forster et al have recently pointed out their concern for the progressive deterioration of the mental health of doctors and for the neglect or ignorance that the medical health organizations in which they work have for their affective problems. They point out several causal factors, not only for the mental suffering of doctors, but also for the fact that the following is not taken into account: 1) the idea of the doctor as an exceptional being in society, 2) the social conviction that they must deny themselves and give themselves to others, 3) the dominant concept that their mental health and all their affective problems are their own responsibility, signs of disaffection, and are not the responsibility of the system in which they work. This brings us back to the topic of “discomfort in medicine” that we have addressed earlier. We propose to frame the affective disorders and discomfort of doctors and their causes in a larger psycho-social-professional framework, which is multicausal, currently dominates Western culture and which results in the deterioration of human behavior. In medicine, this results in the dehumanization of medical care, patient care and the health of doctors. They are not isolated events, but dependent on each other. Mutual causality includes the effects of the exponential increase in knowledge in science and technology, the accentuation of medical corporatism, the fragmentation of medical assistance, and the almost total loss of the holistic conception of the patient.
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