“Patients cannot hear it when you say
disparaging things about them
to colleagues out of earshot. But they can feel it.” – Mark Reid, M.D.
to colleagues out of earshot. But they can feel it.” – Mark Reid, M.D.
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| Photo by Rick Hustead |
When you go to the doctor’s office, you are likely to perceive a lot of
things. You will see the doctor’s white coat, smell the astringent odor of
anti-septic and cleaning products, feel the cool air circulating throughout the
clinic (it always seems so cold in a doctor’s office). Then there will be
sounds: a child’s cough, the buzz over the reception area desk instructing the
next patient to step check in, the voices of other patients’ chatting in the
waiting room, the medical staff discussing…whatever. Sometimes the topic of the
medical team’s conversation or the tone of their voices causes unnecessary (and
unintended) anxiety and distress.
For example: I
once overheard an Ob/Gyn physician call to his nurse, “Bring the cow in here.”
Now, calling a woman a “cow” is unkind and derogatory, to say the very least. I
was seething. What kind of physician
would refer to his patients this way? I wondered, gritting my teeth. Then I
saw the nurse wheel a computer into the examining room and shut the door. Cow. C.o.W. Computer on Wheels. But you wouldn’t have known what the doctor
really meant if you hadn’t seen the item he wanted the nurse to bring into the
room.
The tone of the
medical professionals’ voice and cadence of their speech can also influence
your level of anxiety or comfort/relaxation during a medical visit. When I
over-heard the doctor instruct the nurse to bring the C.o.W. into the examining
room, his tone was mild or even indifferent. My hyper-suggestible state
intensified my emotional-suggestible
interpretation to his comment. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that he
was mocking or belittling the patient and
he didn’t seem to care that he was insulting her. If I had been in that
examining room, I would have been very insulted—until the computer came into
the room, anyway.
Whether you are at
the clinic for a regular check-up, preparing for/recovering from a scheduled
surgery or an unexpected trip to the emergency room, hospitals and medical
environments can be an overwhelming and anxiety-inducing experience. As the
smells, sounds and sights of this environment fill and overwhelm the senses, it
is easy and natural to slip into a hyper-suggestible state of awareness (i.e.,
environmental hypnosis). Fear, anxiety and/or nervousness you experience being
in this medical environment, combined with any negative emotions/associations
you have about the examination or procedure you are about to undergo likely
intensifies this state.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified
hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors
from the Hypnosis Motivation
Institute in 2005. For more
information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an
appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
