Creativity in Physicians: Vital to Our Lives, and to Medicine Itself
I met with a new coach the other day, as part of a business-building program. "Why are you focusing so much on physicians?” he asked. “There are so many other people out there, after all." It seemed a reasonable enough question. Yet my first response (kept to myself) was thinking that in his eyes, I was doing something "wrong." I felt inadequate and shamed – as if caring for my colleagues as a psychiatrist my entire career, was lackluster. These people have always sought me out, everywhere I’ve worked. They've been in all stages of career, from medical school through retirement; many have also been medical leaders. Helping them through whatever they’re experiencing, has come very naturally to me. Beyond my office though, I knew many physicians were suffering even if not diagnostically ill. What about them? Thousands were slogging through burnout, just as I had multiple times myself. I knew they didn’t need psychoanalytic “there and then” approaches so...