ABSTRACT
I had a feeling of déjà vu when Michelle’s psychologist called me yesterday to talk about her. Michelle is a very dependent patient of 32 years old, with a constant anxiety, panic attacks, irritable bowel syndrome, and pain all over – the dread of any family physician. Since the beginning of my relationship with her and her family I knew I would have great difficulty in caring for them. When they first transferred their files to me, it was about 17 years ago and Michelle was about 15 years old, the only child of a family who had emigrated from France. That’s why it was so exciting for me, at the beginning. I was just a resident and it was nice to be chosen to be their family physician, especially talking to people in my mother tongue.
