
Relevance?
A patient forwarded a reference to an article in JAMA dealing with physician burnout and its negative effects on their satisfaction and patient relationships.
Reflecting on its findings raised a number of random thoughts . How do medical schools choose and train prospective doctors? How do doctors maintain their balance? How do patients with chronic illness deal with "disease and its management" burnout?
At a personal level my tools are provided by Maslow, Snyder, Victor Frankl, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, my family and my parents.
What attributes play into "survivorship" of both the provider and the recipient of health care? For the patient, survivor characteristics include resiliency, self actualization, strong social relationships, appropriate goal setting and willpower to quote some of the above. Charles Snyder was a positive psychologist who wrote "The Psychology of Hope" in which he discusses the better outcomes in "high hopeful" individuals.
Mindfullness I believe is part of a broader positive psychology theory of a Meaningful Life in which a positive sense of well-being, meaning, and purpose derives from contributing to the greater good of others.
In the JAMA article the surgeon indicates the positive experience immersion in an operation generates. He is experiencing what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has called Flow ... you may find this link to a 19 minute video interesting.
For the patient and their loved ones illness interrupts and threatens not only the daily activities of life, but at times life itself. Where to find the hope, motivation and will power?
I have left this blog incomplete and with a ? not an answer. More later?