In recent years, it has been shown that health professionals in general, and above all doctors, seldom behave as patients should when we are ill.

One out of ten. It is calculated that one out of ten of us doctors is likely to suffer, during our professional life, some episode related to mental illness and/or addictive behaviours that can undermine our professional praxis, and may even reach that level of manifest bad praxis that entails committing errors and negligence.

Many sick leaves, impairments or withdrawals of licences of doctors are due to disorders that have an effective treatment.

The hidden illnesses. These illnesses impinge very negatively on daily life, both in the family environment and in professional circles and also in the workplace and our dealings with our patients. Even when we are aware of this harm, the result of fear, feelings of guilt and the social stigmatization of the illness is that we doctors and health professionals are wont to deny it and to hide it.

Also a community health problem. Likewise, the only result of a lack of initiative and decisiveness when a request for help is called for is a further delay in confronting the problem and, therefore, a worsening of the prognosis. When doctors fail to look for effective solutions to their problems, their conduct exceeds the scope of the strictly personal and becomes a question that affects the public well-being because of the consequences that it may have for the health of our patients.

Neither the best patients, nor the best attended to. It has been shown that we health professionals form part of the population that receives less health care, be it because of self-sufficiency, or because we are in denial about our own illnesses, or because of spontaneous consultations with colleagues or for other reasons. Nor do we find among doctors that appropriate therapist-patient relationship which is present in normal clinical practice. For both of these reasons, we are, paradoxically, one of the worst-cared-for groups within the health system.


Testimonials

"My name is ASR, I am 47 years old and have been a practising physician for more than twenty years. About five years ago, in the throes of a really traumatic divorce, I suffered a major depressive syndrome, for which I was treated pharmacologically for something over a year, but without a posterior solid clinical stabilization. Less than a year ago, I went down once more with acute symptoms of my condition, almost certainly because of self-medication and also because of aggressive exogenous factors. At that point, a colleague informed me about the recent creation of the Integral Care Program for Sick Physicians (PAIMM). I immediately got in touch with the program, first by telephone and later in person, and received effective, quality treatment, with confidentiality being maintained in every aspect. So far, my progress has been excellent. For all of this, I wish to express my most unconditional gratitude to all those who have been involved in one way or another in this process."

"Dear colleagues,
Ever since my time as a student in the Faculty [of Medicine] I have had problems with alcohol. A difficult situation that got steadily worse until it became incompatible with my life, both professional and private. I tried on numerous occasions to overcome it with good intentions on my part, without success, so I went on barely managing to keep my head above water until a colleague and great friend spoke to me about the recent creation of the PAIMM.
At first, I was treated as an outpatient and later I was admitted to the [residential] centre. (I inaugurated it as a patient!). Since then I have not tasted any alcohol. The professionalism, the support and the affection of all the members of the team achieved what I unaided, over a period of more than 30 years, did not achieve. Even now, I do not know how I can thank these colleagues for their great work, and for the understanding and the confidentiality with which they treated me."

"It must be about five years now since I landed in the PAIMM, desperate after nine years of fruitless treatments, due to the characteristics of my addiction(s): an alcoholism of thirty years of evolution and an addiction to cocaine since I was forty; my own personality; the years of evolution of the drug addiction - all of this because I had not understood the significance of my disease, because I had not accepted it for what it was. Be that as it may, I saw the PAIMM publicity and I worked up the courage to call. I had my reservations. I have not mentioned that, in addition, I am a well-known specialist in psychiatry. Well, I believe that I am succeeding, that, on the 'wheel of change', I am at last getting control over my life. And to what is this due? In the first place, I'd like to emphasise that the confidentiality is rigorously observed. Personally, I don't mind saying, in the personal, social and professional circles in which I move, that I have this illness - in fact, I am proud of being able to confront it and to see that my efforts have not been in vain. I understand, however, that we are all as we are and for that reason I want to insist on the zeal with which the confidentiality is maintained. Secondly, the professional quality of all the professionals, the nurses, the psychologists and the psychiatrists, is very high as far as their knowledge of addictive illness is concerned, and I think I have enough authority to be able to say so. And, thirdly, the human quality of all the personnel who work in the PAIMM is worthy of mention, and this is being said by a hard-to-please person, very much given to doing what he feels like. They manage to win you over and gain your confidence, I assure you. I'd like, from here, to make an appeal to all the colleagues who are suffering an addiction problem, and to thank all the personnel of the PAIMM for what they have done for me. From the bottom of my heart, thank you: I will never be able to forget it."