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Show rR. SAMUEL SCHECTER, New York City, gave me an interesting slant the other day, from the doctor's point )f view. He says that in the practice of medicine it is important that the doctor be a good listener, letting the .,.m.,J:,, patient talk about himself. Aside from inform-, inform-, ing the doctor why he has been sent for, and going into the details of his ailment, it is wise C to 'et t'le patient revert back to his early days, , 4 even to his childhood, for often the crux of his , T , "2 trouble can be traced far back. f "Many doctors," says Dr. Schecter, "and I , susjs.,i,n,i,ji am one D tnem believe that in some instances D. Carnegie the actua treatment of a patient starts when the patient begins to tell his troubles to his doctor. It is not always an ache or a pain that has brought him to the patient's side. It may be an economic factor, a social problem, or some emotional upset, and doctors cannot draw a definite line of demarkation between any one of these, as one usually leads to another. "But one thing we do know, the patient very often begins to feel better immediately. Why? Because he went to someone in whom he had confidence, someone whom he HI:sd, someone whom he trusted, and who listened to him, gave him the opportunity to get an irksome problem off his mind." In line with what Dr. Schecter has said, another doctor cold me of a recent visit to a woman who had been alarmed by symptoms described in the publicity given to cancer. She had been worrying for some time, had lost her appetite, and lost weight, but got no satisfaction when trying to get an examination appointment. The date was set far ahead. When this doctor heard her tell her symptoms, all he had to do was to assure her that she had no cause for worry. She had been troubled for a long period of time, several years, more or less. If what she feared were true, he said, the trouble would have come to a head long ago. Since then, she says, she has regained her appetite, picked up weight, forgotten, about headaches, and has gone after the true ailment and conquered it. |