Mental Health/Psychology/Self
What I’ve Learned after Treating Depression for 50 Years.
I know something about depression: I’ve studied it, treated it, and lived it.
I know something about depression: I’ve studied it, treated it, and lived it.
When I was in my psychiatric training nearly fifty years ago, Dr. Elkins, chief of psychiatry at Maine Medical Center, told us that we couldn’t be good psychiatrists unless we had dealt with our personal pain. Dr. Elkin’s point was that psychiatrists’ pain allows us to empathize more accurately with our patients’ experiences. I still believe that is true.
Through our training, we learn to avoid allowing that pain to cloud our judgment as we treat patients and assist them in climbing out of those dark caverns.
In 1977 Dr. George Engel described a model for understanding and treating depression. I read about it just after I completed my residency. It is called the bio-psycho-social model. In an age where pharmacology dominates psychiatry, I still use this model for treating patients.
The “bio” refers to our physical and genetic vulnerability. “Psycho” includes developmental issues, and “social” applies to our on-going, societal life stresses. Successfully managing…
