DISSERTATIONS 2019

THE HAND THAT SOOTHES AND THE PAIN OF LISTENING: MEDICAL INTERCONSULTATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Carlos Luis Bichuetti

Advisor: Profa. Dra. Liliana Liviano Wahba
Keywords: Psychiatric interconsultation. Psychiatry at the general hospital. Physician’s emotions. Doctor-patient relationship. Analytical Psychology.

ABSTRACT: This study aimed at exploring the psychiatric interconsultation, by investigating the reasons that lead non-psychiatrists to request it and identifying physicians’ reported emotions in their interpersonal relations with the patient and with the interconsultor within the hospital universe. A qualitative research study was developed using semi-structured interviews as research tool. Analysis were based on the theoretical framework proposed by Michael Balint, Carl Gustav Jung and other Jungian authors. Participants were eight physicians who work at a general hospital and routinely request interconsultation. The results suggest that psychiatric interconsultation could be performed as a means to improve doctor-patient relationship, assisting the management of conflicting situations that arise between physicians and their patients, families and the institution. Findings also point to the role of the physician’s affective complexes and emotions as factors that interfere with the relationship with patients, which requires the interconsultor to assist the colleague in dealing with his/her emotions. Participants pointed that an easier access and a better communication with the interconsultor would be improvements to be worked out in the doctor-physician relationship. We expect that this study contribute to make interconsultation be seen as an activity that also contributes to the comprehension of the emotions at play, and by doing so helps to foster doctor-patient relationships.