ABSTRACT
Some time ago, a GP we know was carrying out a routine morning surgery. He had a young clinical psychologist sitting in with him. She was training as a psychotherapist and wanted to learn about primary care. After the first patient of the morning had come and gone, she commented that the GP might well consider referring that person for psychotherapy. Then the second patient came and went, and the young psychotherapy trainee commented on the coincidence that the GP had now seen two successive patients who might well benefit from psychotherapy. After the next three patients, she became rather puzzled, as they also seemed to her to be eligible for psychotherapy. For the rest of the surgery she fell very quiet. The GP—an experienced practitioner—thought she had become rather depressed in the course of the morning, perhaps on account of a certain kind of cognitive dissonance. As for himself, he did not feel that she had observed a procession of candidates for psychotherapy. He felt she had simply been watching ordinary primary care and observing the human condition.
