While attending an all-night mindfulness session in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the ophthalmologist confronted memories of severe trauma cases involving gunshot wounds and ruptured eyes. The physician realized that projecting a stoic demeanor had served as a defense mechanism to avoid being overwhelmed by patients' suffering. After processing this grief, the doctor returned to the clinic with renewed presence, utilizing grounding techniques to remain emotionally attuned. Before entering rooms with patients facing loss or distress, the specialist now focuses on the sensation of feet on the floor as an anchor.
Key points
Suppressing natural emotional responses to severe trauma can lead to rigidity that aliena…: Suppressing natural emotional responses to severe trauma can lead to rigidity that alienates healthcare providers from their patients.
Processing unresolved clinical grief allows medical professionals to release tension and…: Processing unresolved clinical grief allows medical professionals to release tension and replace defensive stoicism with genuine compassion.
Grounding mindfulness techniques help physicians remain present and attentive without suc…: Grounding mindfulness techniques help physicians remain present and attentive without succumbing to the emotional weight of medical trauma.
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Last fall I attended a meditation retreat in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I had hoped for a respite from a busy ophthalmology practice in Portland, Ore. Instead, I returned to the most difficult challenges I have faced in practice.
One night, we were asked to remain awake in meditation through dawn. The teachers explained that this “all-nighter” would be quite different from those in our past, such as late nights studying in college or socializing with friends.
For me, however, the term “all-nighter” did not evoke memories from a library or party. Instead, I recollected the most devastating injuries I have ever witnessed as an ophthalmologist: a patient who survived an execution-style gunshot and required brain surgery and an enucleation; a serene woman waiting in her car near a street festival, struck by stray gang violence; and eyes ruptured by knives, fireworks, bungee cords, windshields, beer bottles, sticks, rocks, and fish hooks. Many of them “just minding my own business.” Each story life-changing and traumatizing.
Ophthalmologists are called in — often in the middle of the night — to help…
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