The Ego Ideal and the Hidden Damage of Diagnosis and Treatment

Abstract

Let me say at the outset the reason for being a medical doctor or any other healthcare providers to make an accurate diagnosis and organize a treatment plan based on that diagnosis. Furthermore, many, if not most patients, feel a sense of relief that their problem has both a name called a diagnosis and it can be treated. What is often not recognized by the physician is that very diagnosis and the treatment can damage the patients’ ego ideal.