Doubts about being of value: an important aspect of countertransference in consultation-liaison psychiatry.
Doubts about being of value to medically ill patients and their referring physicians is not an uncommon emotional reaction of consultation-liaison psychiatrists to the medical environment. Both realistic perceptions of negative attitudes of non-psychiatric physicians as well as unrealistic doubts about their potential usefulness, which may be projected upon and attributed to their non-psychiatric colleagues, can contribute to this unsettling response. This reaction may interfere with effective collaboration between consultation-liaison psychiatrists and their non-psychiatric colleagues and needs to be understood and mastered.
D003379:Countertransference; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D011570:Psychiatry; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012649:Self Concept