At times it's hard to decide who has the more difficult job in the doctor-patient relationship: patients, who reasonably expect kind words and a caring attitude, as well as top-notch medical expertise, or physicians, who spend all day trying to be at the top of their game, but often end up feeling that they fall short.
I've heard both sides of the medical relationship story: Patients feel like doctors don't listen to them, are insensitive to the anxieties they have about their health, and so on. Physicians complain too: They don't feel like they have enough time, and demands placed on them seem endless. Some of the more thoughtful physicians I know even talk about how their training hasn't provided nearly enough preparation in dealing with the complex human emotions they're often confronted with.
Trust in the medical profession has eroded over the last several decades. There was a time, referred to as the "Golden Age of Medicine," when physicians had our unconditional trust and admiration. They were well-paid. They were respected. And we did not question their decisions. We idealized them.
The change in the public's perception of doctors is advantageous for several reasons. When we blindly trust someone to make decisions for us, we tend not to take responsibility for our own health by relying on the common mindset, "The doctor can fix it." Moreover, there were, and are abuses in medicine, such as unnecessary tests and procedures, lack of sanctions for verbally abusive doctors who alienate staff and patients, and unnecessarily long hospital stays. Improved accountability throughout the medical profession carries with it the potential for better healthcare for all of us.
However, the loss of idealization has led to a tendency to devalue physicians and the practice of medicine. This is not surprising, as psychologists know all too well how we are all capable of swinging from overvaluing people we need to blatantly devaluing them. However, when we devalue doctors, and medicine in general, we lose the very trust we need to have in our caregivers. When we're sick and vulnerable, we need to feel that we can count on our doctors. Trusting physicians has other benefits as well: Studies show that trust in physicians is associated with significantly higher levels of self-care.
It's never wise to stick with a doctor who doesn't treat people well, and blind trust is never a good thing. However, we all need to come to terms with the reality that physicians aren't gods, but are, for the most part, capable and well-trained professionals who have the knowledge required to help us get better. The problems in medicine often come down to a sticky paradox: We need to trust physicians in order to take better care of ourselves. When we don't trust them and their expertise, we feel more alone and don't do what we need to for our healthy well-being. So that means choosing (if we can) who we allow to be involved in our medical care and finding the best practitioner for the job, even if it means searching to find the right doctor who we can safely rely on, and even at times, idealize.
