A pre-vocational doctor shares how joining a Balint Group helped her to reconnect with her patients…

Every three weeks, Antje Vogelsang gets together with fellow doctors to discuss two patient cases for one and a half hours. She attends a Balint group, which she begun to attend last year after having heard about Balint groups during her undergraduate training in Germany.

What exactly is the purpose of a Balint group you

ask? Therapy for doctors? No, in a Balint group, doctors gather regularly to share and discuss patient cases that have frustrated or puzzled them. Participants brainstorm what may be happening to the patient and to the doctor in each case. According to Antje, it’s about focusing on the psychology behind

the doctor-patient relationship, not on the case as a professional puzzle. ‘It is more about the perceived possibilities… WHY the patient might present as he does or WHY the doctor might feel the way he/she does in this case’.

Balint groups were created in the 1950s by Michael Balint, who introduced the idea that the doctor is the treatment in his book The Doctor, His Patient and

the Illness. In his book, Balint

writes that the patient responds not only to the drug prescribed by the doctor but to the person of the doctor themselves, the interaction between doctor and

patient, and the environment in which the consultation takes place. Balint encourages the doctor to understand

the use of emotion and personal understanding in treating their patient. Coming to an understanding of WHY a patient may be acting the way they are often leads the doctor to have a more emphatic approach towards those tricky patients most try to avoid.

For Antje, attending a Balint group has opened her eyes to new ways of dealing with patients with more compassion and understanding, for both the patient and herself as the doctor.

‘They’ve reminded me that patients and doctors are humans with baggage, which make them react/present the way they do. Hearing all the ideas of the group reminds me of how multicoloured/multilayered every individual life is and that my ‘doctor’ hat (how a patient should be/ should behave) is often very narrow-minded’, she says.

‘It brought back my compassion, even for patients who really stretch my patience, who p*ss me off, where you wish them away the moment you hear their names-we ALL have patients like that (which itself is comforting)’.

Though Antje warns Balint groups may

not be helpful for everyone. ‘You have to be prepared to question yourself and to be open to realising that your approach might be limiting you and your patient,’ she says.

However Antje definitely recommends a Balint dose every now and then. ‘Catching up with colleagues and having a very good laugh about yourself, your patients and life in general is a very healthy thing to do!’

For more information on Balint groups, visit the Balint Australia website.

A Quote from Michael Balint – Sometimes we have to have “The courage of one’s stupidity” (Go on, say it, you may be absolutely right and if you are not, we will probably still talk to you!)