Lazarus, arise !

Dr Dork is back on the air.








Or the net. Or whatever the kids call it nowadays.

Many thanks to all well-wishers. Apologies for such a long absence. Dr Dork has been crook, to use the Oz vernacular.

Dr Dork considers himself still relatively young. His hair follicles might beg to differ.

Nonetheless, there has been a fair amount of illness in his life, especially in the last 5 years.

Some cardiological things. Some gastrointestinal things.

But most of all, the Black Dog

Depression.

Some readers will have inferred this already, perhaps, from some of Dr Dorks previous posts.

This will be elaborated upon later. As an ongoing theme. In much detail. You have been warned.

Dr Dork has spent many hours, whilst squirming uncomfortably in the patient role, pondering the reasons he began a blog in the first place. He thinks there are a few.

1. Dr Dork is opinionated.

He holds the view that the world should be a more just and fair place than it currently is. According to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) principles, he now understands that this is classified as the "fallacy of fairness". Whilst Dr Dork accepts every other cognitive distortion that Ellis et al propose, he's stuck on this one. Blogging alleviates a sense of injustice. Like any half decent medico, Dr Dork gets pissed off at things that impact negatively upon the health of the society in which he lives, and on his own patients.

Ventilation, in a nutshell.

2. Education.

Dr Dork knows that a lot of patients seek information over the internet. This can be beneficial, or can be dangerous. As a general principle, Dr Dork thinks it is fantastic when patients take responsibility for their illness and want to be well informed. It bodes well for outcomes. But there is a lot of biased misinformation out there. Dr Dork believes that medicine is art as well as science. But the art is in the communication and interaction with a great diversity of individuals, and in the finer, subtle aspects of diagnosis and care. The provision of treatment is essentially based on scientific principles. Dr Dork may be a squeaky little voice in the forest, but that won't stop him squeaking. This is better explained here.

3. Doctor as Patient.

The world as viewed by someone struggling with depression. Who has straddled both sides of the fence.

Dr Dork suspects this is, perhaps, the principle reason that drove him to blog, in light of the problems in the treatment and prevention of psychiatric/psychological illness in Oz.

Which become more evident when you've seen them from multiple perspectives.

This is also the reason he has been careful about anonymity and location, and shies away from discussing his own practice. Sadly, even amongst the medical profession, depression and other psychiatric illnesses remain highly stigmatised.

Dr Dork has previously spent several years working as a psychiatry registrar. He went about halfway down the path to becoming a fully fledged psychiatrist before realising that he was sublimating his own illness, and changed to a different area of medicine.

However, Dr Dork has learnt more about mental health issues as a patient and a carer for a family member than he ever did as a doctor treating psychiatric illness.

He has learnt more about medicine than in all his years of study and clinical practice.

In otherwords, the experience of Doctor as Patient...with a chronic, common, complex illness, with much morbidity, significant mortality, and no ready cure.

Dr Dorks own illness is a mix of biological and psychological factors. He has experiencd both aspects of depression as a consumer, a carer, and a curer.

Dr Dork will return to this topic soon.

Grand rounds will be up on Monday at Anxiety, Addiction and Depression Treatments.


Dr Dork is recuperating with relatives whom are computer bereft and apologises, in that he might take a few days between posts, and a few days to reply to comments or emails. Akin to Intueri and Dr Crippen, both of whom are highly recommended, Dr Dork attempts to respond to all comments. If you've taken the time to read Dr Dorks blathering opinions, your own justly deserves a response.