Thread: pyschosis
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Old 10-07-2011, 02:05 AM
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alice md alice md is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2009
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alice md alice md is offline
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alice md's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 884
10 yr Member
Default A word of caution

This is an internet forum, so we can't do much more that provide emotional support, and give some very general advice, based on our personal experience and general knowledge.
Making definite statements regarding someone's condition can be dangerous.
As is giving definite medical advice.
Many serious and potentially life-endangering errors in medicine come from this arbitrary and non-existent division between the "body" and the "mind". Where exactly is that dividing line? and why do we need to look for it?
I have yet to see a patient with a physical problem that does not have an emotional response to it, and vice versa I have yet to see a person with emotional problems that does not have physical symptoms such as fast heart rate, sweating etc.
I recently had a young patient with a pulmonary embolism who was glad to think that she is just anxious when she found it harder and harder to breath. Her GP expected a "text-book" presentation, and did not consider this possibility in a young athletic woman. Fortunately, someone else did, and she arrived in the ER before it was too late.
And yes, I have also seen the opposite-a patient who instead of receiving reassurance had more and more needless tests.
A good physician knows when and how to provide emotional support, so that the anxiety of the patient does not mask the physical problem.
A less good physician makes a "mixed salad" from the physical problem, his and the patient's emotional response (yes, physicians have an emotional response to the patient and his/her illness too). Thus creating much more confusion.
We, as patients should find those physicians we can trust. those who see us as people with an illness and not just a tunnel vision of our physical illness. Those who can give us reassurance when we need it, without jeopardizing our physical needs.
This forum can only be an addition, but not a substitute for that.
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