I recall during my freshman year in medical school, sitting in class and listening to what were supposed to be 50-minute lectures from people who’d been teaching the same course for years. These were highly educated and intelligent folks; they knew how much material they could cover in 50 minutes. Yet, they frequently went past their time; encroaching on what was for some a badly needed bathroom break, and for all of us a missed opportunity to stretch and clear our heads. Maybe it was intentional, maybe not; but the message seemed fairly clear: “Your time is no longer your own, and your personal needs are irrelevant.”
Carl Jung is credited with first applying the term “wounded healer” to physicians. In doing so, he references Greek mythology: probably the myth of Chiron. Chiron was a centaur who was struck by Hercules with a poisoned arrow, which created a wound that could not be healed. He lived his life in severe pain, but became a great healer of men.
There is a bit of the wounded healer in all physicians. We endure physical, financial, and mental hardship in the process of learning our craft. We put aside our own needs and desires for the sake of our patients. When they need us, we go. If we are hungry or tired, or it is inconvenient, still we go. We look on this as simply what is needed; what is right. Some who know us and love us believe it’s heroic, and perhaps they’re right.
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