Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #502547 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 216 pages

Customer Reviews

Doctors as patients - views from the inside
Doctors as patients

Most doctors react to hearing of a fellow professional's illness as a lawyer might to a colleague who has been sent to jail, or to an accountant who has been caught cooking the books. Luckily patients and the general public are less judgmental.

This book emerged from a group of doctors, all of whom have had life changing experiences as a result of mental ill health. It comes from a desire to inform both fellow professionals and the public at large of the reality of mental illhealth. It also shows that mental illness has no respect for social position or apparent financial security.

High profile cases such as Beverley Allitt which led to the Clothier Report and its now amended recommendation, that health professionals should not be employed with two years of an episode of mental ill health. A similar situation exists within other professions such as teaching, nearly half of whom have suffered mental health problems.

Doctors have also been shown to be more likely to commit suicide than other professionals. This book gives some insights as to the underlying reasons, difficulty in accessing psychiatric care 'out of area', that is away from where the doctor works. 'Out of area' care can at least avoid the necessity of being treated by one's colleagues, with their own prejudices about working with a doctor who has mental health problems as well as the inevitable lack of confidentiality that ensues in an environment where everyone knows who you are.

There is probably more stigma against mental illness within the medical profession than any other social group. Medicine's governing body (the General Medical Council) deals with mental ill health amongst its ranks, by putting doctors with mental health problems before a tribunal. It treats them as it treats doctors accused of professional misconduct and poor performance. It is hardly surprising that doctors are reluctant to come forward when they feel they have begun to have difficulty coping.

The purpose of the book is to widen the debate about mental ill health. Doctors describe their experience of mental ill health and the reactions of a largely punitive system. Many stories are both moving and compelling. This book forms part of the agenda of how we manage mental illness inside and outside of the medical profession as well the debate on the standard and function of the NHS. Where the state is virtually a monopoly employer, and where 95% of the population are dependent on state provision for a service, it is essential that the state assumes responsibility for the service it provides and for the way it treats it employees.

This book is essential reading for policy makers who want to improve the standard of care offered by the NHS, for doctors who need to learn to 'be kinder to themselves and others', for medical students who will value the insights into the profession they are joining, to those who are concerned with supporting doctors in their work and finally those concerned with the issues raised by mental illness within society as a whole.