The doctor patient relationship

Abstract

More than one third of the patients of a family doctor suffer from emotional or psychosomatic disorders. In most of these cases the relationship between the doctor and the patient is disturbed by unconscious defenses and by the transference of early childhood experiences onto the physician. Defenses as well as negative transference reactions interfere with a psychotherapeutic approach which alone can help these patients. Purely somatic therapy or 'common sense psychotherapy' leads to endless diagnostic and therapeutic activities, to unnecessary referal to specialists, to constant changes of physicians and to useless hospitalizations. By joining a Balint group the family doctor can lear how to handle such defenses and transferences.