As my brilliant retired doctor says, “the medical system has gone to hell”. The idea of treating the patient physically, mentally, and spiritually is virtually none existent. Physicians refer to specialists to limit liability under threat of malpractice having to do with the legal definition of the standard of care. There is a good historical analysis here.
In other countries physicians are encouraged to consider more than just tests and to treat the patient by considering many variables affecting the patient’s life. I have yet to find a practice in my city that incorporates multiple modalities within one office. It is ironic that one of the pioneers of hypnotherapy was a medical doctor. Dr. Milton Erickson was so successful at assisting patients that his approach is still the subject of analysis, research, publications and books.
Erickson wikipedia page
Erickson Foundation page
As I thought about this today I was thinking about how nice it would be to be part of a team consisting of multi-disciplinary professionals working in concert to assist patients with their symptoms. Perhaps someday that will be so. For now, each professional works with their own subset of tools, interpreting each patients symptoms within a narrow discipline.
The photo is of Milton Erickson
