On telling the truth...

[deborahjross]

One of my favorite blogs is "Musings of a Dinosaur" by a family practice doctor.

People lie to doctors all the time. About what they eat, how much they smoke, what drugs they take, their sexual histories -- anything they feel ashamed of. Our culture teaches us to hide, to lie not only to others but to ourselves. The usual cost is our self-respect. Sometimes it is our lives. Sometimes when we move past the shame, we find unexpected gifts.

http://dinosaurmusings.blogspot.com/2010/03/truth.html

Comments

[janni.livejournal.com]

What's more frustrating to me is all the times doctors don't seem to quite believe the truths we tell them, or to hear them ... as if it's assumed that patients lie.

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

This is true, and sad. How can a doctor make a good treatment program if s/he is running on the assumption of patient lying?

I wonder if part of the problem is the authoritarian bearing of so many doctors. In our minds, they get lumped in with strict, disapproving teachers and police officers -- people for whom it was essential that we present ourselves as perfect or if not, at least having no damning flaws.

One of the reasons I love my primary doc is that she presents herself as my advocate, on my side.