40% of the Australian population has a diagnosis of mental illness at some stage in their lives. 50% of those with a mental illness also have a significant physical illness at the same time. Staggering statistics. It is not a stigma, it is not a rarity,..... it is Truth in General Practice, every day. My natural reaction with these patients had always been to listen with sympathy, sometimes even personal empathy , ...to give them my full attention, ...and then to linger a little longer in the quiet of my own thoughts, often absent-mindedly carrying these burdens home with me. Sometimes I lingered too much , and my family began to find that my mind was too often elsewhere... I began to identify with the reality of GP burnout. Yet every day there was someone new who needed help , ....help that I did not feel equipped to give . And my role continued to be one of listening, and encouraging patients to seek formal therapy, ....with psych
"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You." — Dr. Seuss