ABSTRACT
Many young people enter the healthcare professions hoping to be healers. Patients experience trauma that may be catastrophic as well. In contrast to prevailing wisdom that trauma victims seek safety and support, physicians who make a medical mistake or are sued tend to withdraw shamed and isolated in an environment that does not tolerate mistake or failure. Physicians whose traumas are denied are hardly likely to be sensitive to the traumas of their patients. Physicians who suffer from traumatic stress disorders may manifest behavioral problems such as withdrawal, disruptive behavior, workaholism, drug and alcohol abuse. This is a chronic pervasive anxiety disorder characterized by symptoms clustered around three main areas: re-experiencing the trauma, numbing of responsiveness or avoidance of thoughts or acts related to the trauma and excess arousal. The commonest cause of post-traumatic stress disorder in the general public is reported to be the sudden and unexpected death of a loved one.
