The Doctor-Patient Relationship and Self-Stigma

Abstract

The text is an analysis of the relational complex in a therapeutic space. Analysis started from the need to perform a medical act depending also on understanding these aspects. In the therapeutic process, diagno sis and treatment in their classical sense are just two of the aspects of a relational type interpersonal real ity, which is much more complex. In fact, doctor-patient relationship is part of a relational system includ ing the patient, his family, the physician and society. The four factors interact with each other, and the fi nal result, the result that has a therapeutic effect on the patient, is a synthesis of all these interactions. Stigma is a pathological psychological product affecting all relations. Stigma is usually part of the collec tive mind, but also part of individual psychology. When stigma affects a patient’s mind , its effect is pro foundly anti-therapeutic. In psychiatry these relations are more important than in any other medical field. The brief analysis of these relations, in the therapeutic context of a patient, is the subject of the following text. Understanding all these aspects has a direct effect on the quality and performance of the medical act.