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Jobs and Emotional Distance
Most of us work because we need to work in order to support ourselves and we also work because work provides us with some sense of self-satisfaction and/or importance. What's the first question you are asked when you meet someone (outside of "where do you live?")? It's usually, "What do you do?" Work, therefore, has an important place in our world.
Medical professionals, too, want to see themselves through their jobs. I was reading one of this weeks' Grand Rounds features on how much emotion we should show on the job, or if we should show it, and it started me thinking.
The author talked about a study that appeared to indicate that employers don't want their employees showing emotion. The study seemed to indicate that negative emotions should, in fact, be hidden. This just doesn't make any sense to me as a psychologist but I began to look at how mental health professionals handle emotion on the job.
First, of all, do they love their jobs and love what they're doing? I've met some who are truly wonderful people who are, as the expression goes, the salt of the earth. They work for their patients and, even in the most difficult of situations, advocate for them. It is often a draining task, but they tell me that they love what they do because they help people.
Helping people, granted, is a wonderful job. In medicine and in psychology, many of us are not taught how to deal with emotion, unless it is inappropriate emotion. We get the idea that we must be a blank, "professional" slate on which nothing is reflected. I suppose this is in the service of helping us to deal with difficult situations.
I've talked to psychiatrists and psychologists who have had patients who went through horrendous things and it took a toll on them. They don't often admit to their feelings, even to themselves. I've even talked to two oncologists who are wonderful people and maintain their joy despite the dreaded disease they fight on a daily basis. They are not afraid to express their joy, their frustration and their anger, when appropriate.
Thinking back, I recall one oncologist, in particular, who affirmed for me the standard that should be set for medical professionals. He was a youngish man in his 30s and he was treating my mother for terminal cancer. This man came to my mother's hospital room and sat and fed her lunch when she couldn't sit up to eat. He talked with encouragement and smiled and laughed and made all of us feel he really cared for my mother as a person and for my family and our pain. God bless him wherever he is today.
Related Topics: Anger Management, Managing Job Stress
Medical professionals, too, want to see themselves through their jobs. I was reading one of this weeks' Grand Rounds features on how much emotion we should show on the job, or if we should show it, and it started me thinking.
The author talked about a study that appeared to indicate that employers don't want their employees showing emotion. The study seemed to indicate that negative emotions should, in fact, be hidden. This just doesn't make any sense to me as a psychologist but I began to look at how mental health professionals handle emotion on the job.
First, of all, do they love their jobs and love what they're doing? I've met some who are truly wonderful people who are, as the expression goes, the salt of the earth. They work for their patients and, even in the most difficult of situations, advocate for them. It is often a draining task, but they tell me that they love what they do because they help people.
Helping people, granted, is a wonderful job. In medicine and in psychology, many of us are not taught how to deal with emotion, unless it is inappropriate emotion. We get the idea that we must be a blank, "professional" slate on which nothing is reflected. I suppose this is in the service of helping us to deal with difficult situations.
I've talked to psychiatrists and psychologists who have had patients who went through horrendous things and it took a toll on them. They don't often admit to their feelings, even to themselves. I've even talked to two oncologists who are wonderful people and maintain their joy despite the dreaded disease they fight on a daily basis. They are not afraid to express their joy, their frustration and their anger, when appropriate.
Thinking back, I recall one oncologist, in particular, who affirmed for me the standard that should be set for medical professionals. He was a youngish man in his 30s and he was treating my mother for terminal cancer. This man came to my mother's hospital room and sat and fed her lunch when she couldn't sit up to eat. He talked with encouragement and smiled and laughed and made all of us feel he really cared for my mother as a person and for my family and our pain. God bless him wherever he is today.
Related Topics: Anger Management, Managing Job Stress
