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Stories in the Service of Making a Better Doctor This interesting article appeared in the NY Times 10/23/08

Given our discussion last week, I think the article is pertinent. It talks about the inclusion of "narrative medicine training" for medical residents as part of their training. One of the physicians who advocates for this sort of program said, "As we improve the technology of medicine, we also need to remember the patient's story."  Perhaps, reshaping medical education to include the entirety of the patient, not just her pathology, but her story, too, will also affect the perception of the "story" and make it an expected component of medical treatment and mental health evaluations and treatment. I'm not a proponent of the use of the medical model as the best or the only treatment for mental health, but I think the more individual stories can be heard, in a variety of contexts, the more "health" becomes a possiblity for a broader range of people.