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TITLE: THE
GENERAL PRACTITIONER
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TITLE: THE
GENERAL PRACTITIONER
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| DESCRIPTION: The recent explosion
of knowledge in the fields of neurobiology, psychology and genetics has
made it no longer helpful to discuss whether or not a particular illness
is psychosomatic. It is much more helpful to use the term psychosomatic
attitude to refer to an approach that pays attention to possible interactions
of psychological, social and biological factors in all patients whatever
symptom or disorder they may be suffering. Recent research has demonstrated
that contrasting the irrationality of emotions to the rationality of reasoning
and decision making is no longer tenable. Emotions are seen as an integral
part of the reasoning machinery of the brain. Damage to the parts of the
brain that process emotion leads to flawed reasoning. Emotions are a striking
and omnipresent feature of human experience. Although they are rooted
in biology and clearly discernible in the behaviour of many other animals,
we humans know our emotions best through our subjective feelings. Emotions
are simultaneously somatic and psychological and therefore bridge the
psyche-soma divide and are a valuable information system necessary for
survival.
The author, an experienced general practioner with psychotherapeutic skills discusses the attitudes that allow the doctor and his patient to learn from their emotions and develop a greater tolerance of them. In a number of detailed and often moving case histories he presents his interaction with patients who suffer from various clinical conditions such as cancer, herpes zoster, hyperventilation syndrome, asthma, skin disorders, panic disorder, obestity, eye disorders and somatisation disorder. He demonstrates how his psychosomatic attitude helps improve these patients' illness. His approach has been influenced by the work of Michael Balint, Donald Winnicott and that of emotion theorists, exemplified by Henry Krystal and Graeme Taylor who have argued for an increasing emphasis on emotional development and emotional regulation within a psychodynamic framework. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Sotiris Zalidis is a General Practitioner Principal in East London. He is also a member of the council of the Balint Society. |
