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A British Family Doctor on

Burnout, Recovery and T.E.A.M in 10 Minute Consultations!

Today, Rhonda and David interview Dr. Tom Gedman, a family doctor in England and one of the founders of TEAM-UK, along with Dr. Peter Spurrier who has also been a guest on a Feeling Good Podcast.

Rhonda started the podcast with a kind email from an enthusiastic podcast fan who loved our podcasts with Dr. Mark Noble (#167 and #265) on the \\u201cBrainology\\u201d of TEAM-CBT. He said these podcasts were \\u201cpure gold\\u201d and appreciated a look behind the curtains to see how TEAM actually worked at the level of the brain.

Tom described his burn out episodes, which started during his third year of medical school, resulting from a familiar theme\\u2014the belief that he was inferior and just not \\u201cgood enough.\\u201d His inferiority complex was a severe, total body experience, with \\u201chorrible thoughts\\u201d for six months. After he recovered, he worried about going into that state again.

And the stress returned again during his medical internship.

He explained that as a General Practitioner (GP) in the British medical system, you only have ten minutes for each patient, and felt like all the pressure was on him to get it right, and stated that \\u201cthe pressure broke me.\\u201d

In Britain, you can get free therapy as a GP, and went to Dr. Peter Spurrier for help. Peter was using the TEAM-CBT he\\u2019d learned when he came to California the previous summer for one of David\\u2019s four-day intensives, and Tom described him as \\u201ca natural. We made a deep connection right away and the Positive Reframing really clicked!\\u201d

Tom\\u2019s negative thoughts included:

1. I\\u2019m not good enough.

2. I\\u2019ll fail my patients.

3. I\\u2019ll do them harm.

4. I\\u2019m not smart enough.

5. I\\u2019ll never be normal.

He explained that the last thought triggered feelings of hopelessness, which really was the worst emotion of all.

He discovered the Feeling Good Podcasts and listened to about 200 of them in just two weeks! And after two or three hour-long sessions with Peter, he recovered and actually felt like he was on a \\u201chigh\\u201d for about six months. He says, \\u201cI had almost limitless confidence!\\u201d

Then he had an as-predicted relapse which disappeared after a 30-minute tune-up with Peter.

Tom said that the he\\u2019d always admired Carl Rogers, who emphasized empathy, and began using the Five Secrets of Effective Communication in his medical practice. This helped him clinically, and he discovered that

\\u201cyou don\\u2019t always have to \\u2018help;\\u2019 skillful listening is often enough. For example, patients often have to wait for months to be seen medically, and they\\u2019re angry and frustrated at first. I acknowledge their frustration and let them know that I feel sad as well. This calms them down immediately.\\u201d

He also gave an example of how trying to \\u201chelp\\u201d a man with agoraphobia simply put the man into a state of rage. \\u201cI tried to convince him that exposure would be good for him, but we just got into an argument, and he threatened to report me to the authorities to have my medical license revoked! That experience taught me something really important about \\u2018helping.\\u2019 Many people have intense resistance and just want to be heard and understood.\\u201d

For example, one of his patients was in tears because of her father\\u2019s Parkinson\\u2019s Disease. The patients was helped greatly by learning He that her emotional distress was actually her love for her father, and she suddenly felt proud of her \\u201csymptoms.\\u201d Another patient with a massive opiate addiction opened up about a severely disturbing childhood incident he\\u2019d never before talked about, and then was able to cut his opiate use \\u201cway down.\\u201d

We also discussed Tom\\u2019s new plans for his medical practice, working with indigent individuals, and explored the possibility of testing my Feeling Good App with this population for free to see how they would take to it. He discovered that a group in England has \\u201cstolen\\u201d my names, and also have a \\u201cFeeling Good App\\u201d and a \\u201cFeeling Good Podcast,\\u201d which causes me considerable distress. We may have to rename our app the \\u201cReal Feeling Good App,\\u201d or some such name!

Dr. Tom can be reached at BlueprintMedical.co.UK or at DrTomGedman.com.

Tom, Rhonda, and I would also like to urge any listeners in or near England to attend the upcoming four day TEAM-CBT intensive in England from August 14 \\u2013 17^th. This four day training conference will be awesome and only costs 440 pounds. Participants will receive 38 CPD points as well as credits in the TEAM-CBT certification program. For more information about the conference, go to www.TEAMCBT.UK.

Thanks for listening!

Rhonda, Tom, and David