Sign up with GoogleI think everyone's experiences are different.
A physician, should know how to listen but also know what questions to ask. The interview or consultation process is therepeutic in itself already but one needs to be a good detective too and that's IMO what clinical medicine is about.
Someone has a problem. It could be organic or psychogenic or a combination. Either way, the problem is serious for them, ie their perception of it causes them anxiety
which perpetuates the problem.
One has to realise this and help the person cope with the implications of his problem by offering support but one also has to make sure the problem
isn't organic in the first place.
Traditionally schools have taught medical conditions to their students and how these present. They also taught the impact of these presentations on the patient,
but maybe not in such a well integrated way as in the new system which also focuses on the individual patient in terms of his community, his family, partner etc;
his personal expectations, his social expectations, his community expectations etc. It think all of that is grand, but people need to be able to diagnose first
and foremost, once they are competent at that, they can branch out and assume a more therapeutic role.
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