Through the years I have had a few teachers in my psychiatric practice. They have been a varied group of people, vulnerable to the same mental health issues as the rest of us. I have noticed in more vocational professions, careers to which people feel they have been “called”, that there is a higher rate of burnout. It holds true for the teachers whom I have treated. It seems like a process people with a deep calling have to go through. They give too much, then crash and burn, Part of their healing is learning how to return to teaching…
What the nurses in my practice have taught me
As a profession, nurses present slightly less to my practice than other occupations. Nurses do, of course, get sick just like everyone else. I think that their “can do” attitudes possibly make them only present when things get very bleak, sometimes to their detriment. They do come in higher proportions as the family member accompanying the patient to my practice. I get the sense that nurses often carry the “medical problems” load of a family. Which means that they will be the ones hauling loved ones in to get help. I have found that certain professions change you as a…