ABSTRACT

This book provides doctors with insights into psychological and relational dynamics to better understand themselves and their patients, deepen their understanding of somatic and psychic dimensions of illness, and give them diagnostic and therapeutic tools to design better treatment procedures for patients.

In the first part of the book, the authors explore cognitive, emotional, and somatic strategies that are supportive of doctors’ well-being. In the second part, they introduce theoretical knowledge and applicable skills from psychotherapy that can illuminate the complexity of the doctor-patient relationship, broaden doctors' approaches, and upgrade their communicative skills. The third part introduces some of the basic tenets of somatic psychotherapy that can deepen doctors' understanding of symptoms and illness, providing them with richer therapeutic tools and a deeper knowledge of bodily and psychological aspects, interweaving in a variety of medical conditions.

This text not only provides a helping hand to both doctors and psychotherapists in designing an amalgamated approach to clinical treatment but also provides doctors with better tools for understanding and managing the intricacies of the doctor-patient relationship.

part I|51 pages

The Doctor as a Human Being, Incorporating a Doctor-Centred Approach

chapter 1|7 pages

The Price of Caring

chapter 2|8 pages

Fighting for Your Life

chapter 3|8 pages

Encountering Suffering

chapter 4|7 pages

The Doctor-Centred Medical Care

part II|44 pages

The Doctor-Patient Relationship, Exercising Therapeutic Skills Without Being a Psychotherapist

chapter 8|8 pages

The Patient

Transference and Regressive Self-States 1

chapter 9|9 pages

The Doctor

Countertransference and Narcissistic Traps

chapter 11|7 pages

Just Be There

Implementing Human Presence, Empathy, and Compassion in Clinical Practice

part III|46 pages

With the Body in Mind

chapter 12|8 pages

The Body-Mind Connection

From Maimonides to Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology

chapter 13|9 pages

The Language of the Body

The Psych Speaks the Soma

chapter 14|9 pages

Listening to the Language of the Body

chapter 15|9 pages

Doctor-Patient Communication

A Dialogue Between Bodies and Minds