Internist Howard Beckman used to try to inspire older patients by talking about his active mother, who, in her late 80s, walked two miles a day. “It worked great until she wasn’t doing so well,” says Beckman, whose mother is now 94. By then, people got used to asking, ‘How’s your mother?’ I’d have to say, ‘Well, she’s struggling.’ ”
\nPatients began worrying about his mother, and they wondered how good a doctor he was if he couldn’t even keep his own mother healthy.<\/p>\n
Beckman had thought that talking about himself and his family strengthened his connection with patients, but he came to realize it wasn’t such a good thing. “It created a complex set of issues, totally unnecessary in caring for these people.”<\/p>\n
Beckman has more proof. He’s a co-author of a study published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine titled “Physician Self-disclosure in Primary Care Visits,” or “Enough About You, What About Me?”<\/p>\n