Yeah, Freud may have started it all but don't forget those doctors who are (allegedly) learned and well educated. If they continue to be prejudiced or ignorant then that is their choice. Prejudice and bigotry is bad enough from someone who knows no better but, hopefully, has the capacity to learn. From someone who does no better but chooses to be this way...
Exactly.
Warning: The following post contains the repetition of a problem word that may cause a problem for you, if that's the sort of thing you have a problem with. Please note that this is a multipurpose warning/disclaimer - any adverse reaction is your problem, not mine.
So, I think part of the problem is one of repetition, making the same mistake, again and again.
As an example;
I have a particular problem, that I knew was a serious problem (in addition to ME), but doctors assumed my problem was in my head.
Eventually, after years of trying to cope with the pain this problem causes me, the problem became so obvious that they could no longer dismiss it. They had to acknowledge that yes, there is indeed a problem. A big one.
The problem now is that, imo, the treatment they are offering will make my other problems that they have also dismissed in the past, and still continue to dismiss to this day, a whole lot worse.
This is a problem for me, but not for them. The only problem they can see is how to get me to let them treat the problem they can see.
Why can't a doctor just stop for a moment and ask the question;
Given that this patient was right that the problem really is a problem, is it possible that she may be right about the other problems being problems too?
Isn't that called learning? Trying not to make the same mistake again?
It seems to me that they have deliberately chosen not to ask that question, and that is, in my mind, a serious problem. Also, the fact that no doctor has actually admitted they were wrong is, imo, problematic. And quite revealing.
In the interests of full disclosure, my own history of not learning from past experiences is quite extensive (watch out for my memoir, ME, Myself and My Problems, coming soon to a bookshop near you - joke).
And I do keep making that same mistake of thinking a new doctor might listen to my problems...even help me with them, maybe...that one's a killer, isn't it...
What a shame that the old cliche of, "a problem shared is a problem halved," is just vintage psychobabble.