As the son of a nurse and brother of a doctor (and brother-in-law of two more), this squib in the latest University of Chicago alumni magazine caught my attention: “Why Doctors Don’t Feel Your Pain.”
Brain scans show that physicians apparently learn to “shut off” the portion of their brain that helps them appreciate the pain their patients experience during treatment and instead activate a portion of the brain connected with controlling emotions. Because doctors sometimes have to inflict pain on their patients as part of the healing process, they also must develop the ability to not be distracted by the suffering, said Jean Decety, professor in psychology and psychiatry at Chicago and coauthor of “Expertise Modulates the Perception of Pain in Others,” in the Oct. 9 Current Biology. [read more]
The old bedside manner vs. expertise issue (or empathy vs. equanimity).
My mom (now retired) actually preferred working in the emergency room, because it kept her from developing emotional attachments to patients—it was all a rush of adrenaline and training and instinct, and then it was over. I know my brother—an endocrinologist—takes it hard when things go badly with those in his care. I wonder which part of his brain lights up when he’s tending to his patients. Has he learned to control the normally automatic response of the anterior insula, periaqueducal gray, and anterior cigulate cortex while at work?
