In a Canadian Medical Journal there was recently published a survey which reported that over 40% of Canadian Physicians are on the verge of burning out. Although there are many reasons for this, which I hope to elaborate on in a series of upcoming articles, one of them is the physician's inability to say no to their patients. This was highlighted at a recent conference on helping physicians heal that I attended recently at a representative medical association in which I heard the following comment from a participating doctor: "Many of us are reluctant to set limits on our patients' demands on our time because some of them are going to get ticked off with us if we do so." On hearing this comment it struck me how the underlying issue here is one of being "afraid to say no." This fear of course is supported by deeper fears of: the patient getting ill, fear that the doctor will feel guilty or responsible, fear that the patient will report them to the local licensing board, the fear that they will be reprimanded, the fear that they will lose their license, etc. So what ultimately happens is that the sum total of these fears manifests in the physician's inability to set limits on his/her patients i.e. to be able "say no" to endless demands on their time and energy. The net result is a physician who ultimately feels enslaved. Ironically this behavior also models to the patient that it is the doctor and not them who is ultimately responsible for their health. The physicians "think" that what is enslaving them is "outside" of them i.e. the patient and/or the licensing body. In fact what are actually enslaving them are their own "fears" of what they think will happen if they say no. They allow themselves, without realizing it to get seduced into the belief that "saying yes" rather than no, when it is necessary, will get the patient and their licensing body off their radar and hence will improve the quality of their lives. Ultimately however what actually happens is that they find themselves drained of vital life energy, unable to function, making mistakes, feeling overwhelmed, feeling stressed and burnt out, possibly feeling trapped and/or suicidal, possibly turning to drugs or alcohol to try and cope, unable to satisfy the patient's requests, and eventually coming up against the licensing board. In other words the belief that "saying yes" is going to make their life better is absolutely false. If you are a physician and you follow me so far then I ask that you go within and simply note this for yourself and then notice how you feel. If you truly wish to begin to reclaim complete mastery over your life and your work then kindly visit the web link below and download an audio clip that I have posted for you there. |
