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ChoicePoints September 2003"The throat is the point at which we choose either to continue to repeat our experience or choose to make different sounds and create a new expression of ourselves." Louise LeBrun
Spotlight On - people, products and pronouncements |
Spotlight On — Through the Eyes of a Practicing PhysicianIt is no secret that there is an alarming decline in the personal wellbeing of those on whom we rely for our own health care. We care deeply about what is happening to those in the health care professions. Our belief is that we all, instinctively, know exactly what we need to do/be for us to be fully alive and well. Dr. Jacqueline Masson, in addition to the depth of experience and wisdom that comes with a practice that spans two decades, is a WEL-Systems Master Facilitator. As a staff psychiatrist at the University of Toronto Health Services, we invite you to step into her world and allow yourself to be touched by her experience. We are in trouble. Who are we? Traditionally trained medical doctors serving Canadian communities. Somewhere along the way, we allowed ourselves to be separated from the human beings we try to help. Maybe it was the acceptance of powerful projections such as "savior", 'magical' or 'special'. Perhaps we have secret truths in the realm of life, death and madness. The true 'secret truth' is that we are ordinary people, struggling to live, love, laugh, cry and hopefully move forward on our own personal and interpersonal journeys. We also have a job chosen before we knew much about life. We sometimes work alone and sometimes with a team of people, as we participate in healing, helping and caring for those in physical and emotional need. And we carefully separate ourselves from our 'patients', thinking to remain safe from the pain and suffering presented to us. And as we do this, we unknowingly separate from a part of ourselves. Who am I? I am a staff psychiatrist at the University of Toronto Health Services. Over the years, I have seen medical students, residents and physicians in distress. However, recent trends in physician health have become alarming. In 1996, the CMA and AMA (Canadian and American Medical Associations) sponsored a conference to look at physician health. Demoralization, tension in the workplace and underestimating our own health needs were major issues. One speaker put it well: "It's hard for doctors to help other doctors because we see our own problems and failings. It's like looking at the cracks in a mirror." He urged physicians to "protect the balance" in their lives. In the fall of 2002, at the International Conference on Physician Health, participants highlighted that physician stress and burnout were at an all-time high. Questionnaire results indicated that doctors were working an average of 53-54 hours a week, not including 'on call' hours. Almost 60% felt that their family and personal lives were suffering because they had chosen medicine as a profession. Especially vulnerable groups are medical students, residents, women and rural doctors.
To summarize, dissatisfaction is high, morale is low and individuals are leaving the country or the profession. I would like to share with you a one-week experience I had in July 2003 that was very helpful and healing for this physician. As a practitioner of NLP for many years, I was looking for ways of integrating NLP into my practice. I enrolled in the WEL-Systems Institute program "Influencing with Intention" to explore how this group put forward NLP concepts. I received much more than NLP. On the second day of the workshop, to my surprise, I found myself remembering a conversation I had with a patient, nearly 20 years ago (during my residency). I have never been able to tell anyone the content of our session, or even to think about it by myself, without tears rolling down my cheeks. One of the facilitator's invited me to breathe, and focus at a point way down at the base of my spine. Then I was asked where in my body I was experiencing the 'emotion'. I was supported in allowing the feeling to move to my whole body… breathing… focusing on the base of my spine. After about 10 minutes my tears stopped. The sensation of being overwhelmed stopped. As we moved ahead with our program, I noticed that for the first time in 20 years I could remember my patient's story without tears. I still perceived the tragedy and pain of this person's life experience but somehow the information was integrated in a new way. It was as if the content of this true horror story had changed its position in space relative to my life. This was not a single event. Floods of deeply felt memories not truly relegated to the past emerged: from my first experience with death to the realization that many of my teachers thought that becoming a Doctor was about information. It's not. It's about people. You and me, together, moving forward. The CMA has developed a policy suggesting that medical students, residents and physicians should participate in activities to prevent the difficulties we are experiencing as a profession. In this doctor's opinion, perhaps all health care workers should carry with them knowledge and experience of The CODE Model™ and thus work daily at integrating their stressful lives. Dr. J. Masson 
Today's Thought
Coming Attractions!We are pleased to offer you the following seminars, workshops and programs. Each one designed to provide thought-provoking and life altering experiences for your on-going personal and professional development. WEL-Systems Experiences: September to November
Quick UpdatesAttention Massage Therapists - get your growth recognized!
Griffin At Work presenting DeCoding Wellness
SpiritCrossing Picks Fully Alive From 9 to 5
A thought virus to engage!
Did you know?The physician treating you may be in worse shape than you are? The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) recently released the results of a survey of Canadian doctors which is scary in its implications. Nearly half of all physicians in this country consider that they are in an advanced state of burnout! They report that they feel emotionally exhausted, cynical and ineffective in their work. And the CMA reports that physicians have twice the suicide rate of the general population. Overall, women and younger physicians appear to fare worse. Given that our inner thoughts frame and shape how we experience and engage the world, I find myself wondering how much of the massive increase in prescriptions being handed out for stress related "illnesses" and "depression" is being driven by doctors who are experiencing life as trapped, hopeless, and relentlessly pressured. "I strive to appear to be patient and enthusiastic to patients and colleagues and put their needs ahead of my own. Meanwhile, I'm silently burning out inside, and finding work less rewarding. I would quit practising medicine, but I'm trapped …" reports one doctor. Fortunately, the CMA has responded by launching the Centre for Physician Health and Well-being. Let's hope for our own sakes, as well as the sake of all these suffering professionals, that the Centre adopts an approach that invites its members to engage with modalities other than the allopathic medical model. Perhaps its time for doctors to begin learning from their patients who have successfully embraced alternative approaches to health and wellness.
Thought WavesPhysician, heal thyself …alone…It should come as no surprise that the Canadian Medical Association has made its recent discovery. For longer than we might want to admit, we've known that the people we turn to for guidance and support are themselves in need of assistance. You can feel the tension in the tone of voice; the brittle touch; the hectic schedule; the impatience and agitation with anything that does not fall easily into a diagnosis or worse, does not respond predictably to treatment. Consider those amongst us who have gone in to the doctor's office in need of being seen and heard and instead, have left with a prescription in hand and a warning that if we did not comply with the treatment, we would only get worse. No room to question. No room to be unsure. Such is the nature of their business. And make no mistake, it is increasingly 'a business' - and one that demands answers without hesitation, tolerates no mistakes and shows no mercy in the punitive nature of its consequences. Consider that these folks we turn to are really just like the rest of us. They need to eat when they're hungry; rest when tired; and they need to find a safe place and a safe way to allow their sense of powerlessness to flow, and their grief and sadness to be relieved. Those who are the 'comforters' themselves, need to find comfort. These men and women - who enter their profession with a desire to contribute and make a difference - are in many cases living lives of quiet desperation. There is no mercy in a medical system that says "You are responsible for the wellness of so many." Not only is this without mercy, it is without reason - for how can anyone be responsible for someone else's wellbeing? The best we can hope for is a willingness to listen and to share information, with an intention for an enhanced quality of life. Our doctors have begun to believe the myths and stories we tell about them : they can fix anything, they can do it all, their lives work, all the time; and they don't need anyone. It's not true - and it's not working. Not only is this system not working, it is the very same system that the doctors we rely on to help us are, in turn, relying on for their own wellbeing. And they already know, far better than the rest of us, that it's not working! One can only imagine the sense of frustration, hopelessness and eventually, despair. When you're on a path that is perceived to be one of no return (after all, 'doctor' is not a job - it's a state of being …an identity), and when you know that both the journey and the destination are not what you believed they would be, you'd be burned-out too! Add to this the need for secrecy as mandated by a system that demands perfection and what you have is a recipe for disaster - and burnout. Perhaps 'burn out' is the only 'way out'. At least, in this way, you can't be faulted for having failed or having changed your mind - and moving on. My only hope is that they go before they become broken and masters at the practice of self-loathing. Sometimes, the drugs look mighty appealing. In the face of the uncertainty that this discovery calls forth, one thing is sure: if we do not find another way - one that is outside of the very system of which these doctors are a part, and is collapsing - there is no place to go but down. But take heart! With all that we're discovering about the Quantum Biological Human, change need not be arduous and painful… and life need not be deadly. As Dr. Bruce Lipton so often says: "You can't be responsible for your life until you know that you can be responsible for your life!". Maybe …someday soon… they'll discover what we already know! Louise LeBrun
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