Hope.
A young woman in my care had 4 siblings diagnosed with mental illness. The story describes how, along normative family-cycle situations, she struggles to define and keep her sanity. I reflect on the shared anxiety of both the doctor and the patient of her losing her mind. As a family physician practicing in a small rural community, I believe that psychiatric, social, and family issues are also family medicine concerns.
Department of Family Medicine, Hadassah School of Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel rkannai@gmail.com.
Ruth
R
Kannai
Clinical psychologist, Pardes-Hanna, Israel.
Aya
A
Alon
D001007:Anxiety; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010821:Physicians, Family; D012424:Rural Population; D035781:Siblings / Q000523:psychology; D012944:Social Support
family health; mental health; primary health care; rural health services