ABSTRACT
Health professionals, carers and friends can help with advice, suggestions, and recommendations, but in the end the key is to encourage patients to find their own balance, or as the medical literature says, for patients to become good ‘self-managers.’ For patients, the focus is on combining their inherent personal knowledge with the technical knowledge of the health professional. For patients coming from a traditional approach where patient passivity was the value, recognising their personal importance and responsibility for their own health outcomes can be a major challenge. The role of the professional and the carer then becomes one of ‘mentor’ rather than ‘teacher.’ Anxiety, depression and fear can gnaw at the mental and physical health of the patient, the carer and even the health professional. The key for patients, carers and health professionals is to move out of the traditional framework, to recognise the possibility and power of self-learning, and to slowly work towards it.
