Louisville Medicine Volume 63, Issue 11 | Page 29

DOCTORS’ LOUNGE merge identity with others like you, which increases the excitement. In anonymity, in the safety of numbers, you feel less constrained by the bounds of courtesy and social norms. You lose self-awareness and self-restraint, and so you might do things you would never do alone. The payoff for the mob mentality, they say, is that you can blame your behavior on the mob, and not take personal responsibility. The KKK wear hoods: they hide their own names, and proclaim their mob name. Those of us who remember civil rights marches, and riots, and antiwar marches (and riots), also remember our country’s shameful history of lynch mobs. No matter whom you support, there is never a justification to become part of a mob. Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King taught civil disobedience: ruggedly nonviolent protest, perhaps at great personal cost. As doctors we bear a moral responsibility to treat everyone the same. Never should we hide behind the mask of a mob. Never should we stoop to fascist bigotry and anger. Never should we look at a person and see anything but their human need for connection, for trust, for treatment. We are always and forever bound to help, not harm. As Americans, we profess to believe that all men are created equal. Especially as doctors, we must behave as though we mean it. Dr. Barry practices Internal Medicine with Norton Community Medical Associates-Barret. She is a clinical associate professor at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, Department of Medicine. PHYSICIAN BURNOUT (MINDFULNESS) Waqar Aziz, MD “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” - World Health Organization As the demands on physicians’ time increase and life becomes even more burdensome with new regulations, physician burnout - even in the early days of practice - is becoming more and more prevalent. Typically, it manifests itself with low energy, exhaustion, lack of empathy, compassion, attrition, low work satisfaction, anxiety and stress. These signs unfortunately do not just stay at work, but go home as well. Physicians often do not participate in healthy activities to maximize their own health. While the burnout is insidious, the effects of it can appear in every aspect of a physician’s personal, social and work life. Stress in any situation is not good, but for physicians it is particularly worrisome as it affects work and domestic life. As we practice under an accumulating wealth of regulations we are all aware of the damage this can cause. As the reality of modern medicine is not going to change, we must adjust to make accommodations with and be happy in the work we do. Several years ago, the University of Massachusetts started a Mindfulness Stress Behavior Reduction program (MSBR) for their patients and since that time several major university centers have incorporated it into their treatment strategies. The Annals of Family Medicine in 2013 published a paper discussing the use of mindfulness in primary care practice. If and when practiced by physicians, it provides a noticeable sense of well-being, stress reduction and anxiety relief. The benefits were long lasting, even after the program and follow-up sessions were completed. I attended a six-week course locally and feel that it helped me in every aspect of my life. So what is mindful meditation? According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, “Mindfulness means paying attention in a certain way; on purpose, in the present moment, and, without judging.” (Mindfulnet, 2012). Mindfulness can be practiced anywhere although dedicating 20 minutes in a day may prove more useful. As the awareness increases it becomes part of a person’s daily life, and one’s entire outlook on life can change. This article will not go into techniques, as several books are available especially by John Kabat-Zinn who started the Massachusetts program. But a brief introduction should be in order. Mindfulness is, as the name implies, a type of training for the mind to experience life without being judgmental. It is nonreactive, enabling the self to recognize behaviors that are not helpful when dealing with various situations. The mantra, “where you are, there you are” without projecting into the future nor living [