Is training in psychiatry the missing link in educating doctors to be compassionate???

From: Helen Dynda (olddad66@runestone.net)
Tue Oct 10 14:08:31 2000


Is * psychiatry training * the missing link in the education of doctors?

The following two quotations are from Mary Lou Ballweg's Tribute to Dr. Arnold J. Kresch, MD:

"his gyn colleagues couldn't wait for him to complete his psychiatry training and saved up what they called their impossible pain cases or "crocks" ( women whose pain is presumed to be in their heads )."

"Seeing these "impossible" cases on his psychiatry days, he would often end up referring them for evaluation on his gyn days. As he carried out more and more laparoscopies on these patients, he found that the majority of them had either endo or adhesions."

ARNOLD J. KRESCH, M.D. - A TRIBUTE By Mary Lou Ballweg, President, Endometriosis Association

The world has lost one of our best endo doctors. Dr. Kresch, a supporter and Advisor to the Association for over 10 years, died in late December from pancreatic cancer, at 61 years old. He was associated with Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, California, since 1970 as Clinical Professor and in other capacities.

Medically, he was best known for his work in pelvic pain and endometriosis. He became interested in endo in a most unusual way. First trained as a gynecologist, he then also trained in psychiatry. As he said at a 1989 talk to the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists, his gyn colleagues couldn't wait for him to complete his psychiatry training and saved up what they called their impossible pain cases or "crocks" ( women whose pain is presumed to be in their heads ). "Arnie" ( as he was to all of us who worked closely with him ) divided his practice between gyn and psychiatry. Seeing these "impossible" cases on his psychiatry days, he would often end up referring them for evaluation on his gyn days. As he carried out more and more laparoscopies on these patients, he found that the majority of them had either endo or adhesions.

He then proceeded to educate other physicians that the pain "was not all in their heads." He developed pain analysis and mapping tools ( reprinted in The Endometriosis Sourcebook ). He often would tell other physicians how amazingly accurate patients were in describing exactly where the source of the problem was. He was able to determine that certain words were typically used to describe the pain from adhesions and other words to describe the pain from active endo. ( Again, this material is described in The Endometriosis Sourcebook. )


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