Patient-generated dysphoria in house officers

Abstract

Patients can induce intense emotions in physicians. Such feelings can become a source of stress for the physician and interfere adversely with patient care. The authors investigated patient illnesses and conditions that caused dysphoria among three specialty groups of house officers. Tragic, horrifying, or difficult patients produced intense dysphoria in all three groups. The characteristics of the patients producing the greatest dysphoria for each specialty group fell outside the traditional expertise of that group.