DG #11. Conversations with Doctors: From Balint Groups to Narrative Medicine
Wednesday, January 16 at the APsaA Meetings at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City at 2:00-4:30 PM
Co-chair and Facilitator: Fred L. Griffin, M.D. (Birmingham)
Co-chair and Presenter: Randall H. Paulsen, M.D. (Boston)
Presenter: Nina Calabresi, M.D. (Boston)
Narrative medicine is an emergent field in which clinicians creatively write about their subjective experiences with patients and reflect upon what they learn about themselves and about clinical process. The act of writing generates a reflective space, and seeing oneself with a patient on the written page may create a very powerful self-analytic process that increases the capacities for self-awareness and self-reflection. Time-honored Balint Group work results in similar achievements by way of case presentations that are discussed by groups of physicians.
At the January 2008 meeting of this discussion group, Drs. Nina Calabresi (Boston) and Randall Paulsen (Boston) will present their application of narrative medicine and Balint work to their experience of running a three-year developmental sequence for psychiatric residents. The course charts the formation of a psychiatric identity with particular attention to the evolving qualities of the patient-psychiatrist relationship.
The class meets weekly for the full three years of their residency experience. Using a combination of Balint-type, case-based discussion for the first year-and-a-half allows residents to navigate the formation of functioning psychiatric profession identity. Then, by introducing narrative medicine techniques and providing an opportunity for written expression during their 3rd year, the residents demonstrate a capacity for introspection that bodes well for the consolidation of therapeutic capacities. Examples will be provided for discussion.
We would like to invite you to join us for what promises to be a stimulating discussion.
Fred Griffin
Randall Paulsen