Do ‘caring conversations’ save lives?
My Twitter timeline regularly contains messages urging people to engage in conversations with people they suspect of suicidality. One of the most recent tweets contained reference to an article of ‘caring conversations’. I continue to think that urging untrained people to have such conversations is unethical and shouldn’t be done. But, I thought, perhaps I am wrong and close-minded. I decided to look for evidence, after all, with so many urging messages, there must be loads, it must be screaming at you! Continue reading “Do ‘caring conversations’ save lives?”
On thoughts and thinking
Dr Claire Norman wrote an article about how she asks whether her patients think of self-harm or suicide. It is very welcome when clinicians engage with scholars studying clinical communication and I applaud the article. However, I think the article could go further and here is my reflection on it. Continue reading “On thoughts and thinking”
Treating the person
I have seen calls to treat the person not the disease for years. If you see so many tweets from medics every day as I do, you will see the adage from William Osler almost daily. For some time now, I have wondered what it means. I’ve always found it difficult to describe what exactly it means to treat the person not the disease that person has. Despite medics’ pronouncements, I also wonder (and doubt) whether medics who speak about it do.
Psychiatry in the mirror
An announcement from the Belgian Superior Health Council caused a minor Twitter stir recently, with some exalted voices of how revolutionary it is. In contrast to the amazement, I am rather underwhelmed by the text, and I can’t see the revolution. Continue reading “Psychiatry in the mirror”