Are you a doctor or doctor in training who’s found yourself more emotionally affected by your patients, more startled by your pager buzzing, more overwhelmed by the sights, sounds and smells of the hospital and more obsessed and exhausted by the desire to get everything right? If so, you may be a highly sensitive MD.The Highly Sensitive MD Podcast explores what happens when highly sensitive people (HSPs) become doctors - why we choose medicine, how our sensitivity shows up in training and practice, why we are more prone to burnout (but also make the best doctors), and finally, how we can thrive in medicine by better understanding and embracing our sensitivity. The podcast is hosted by Dr. Sonia Singh, a board-certified internist, HSP and author of “Morning Report” (NEJM, 2017) and “Open Letter to a Burned Out Intern” (Annals of Internal Medicine, 2020). Her mission is to show other highly sensitive doctors that they are not alone, there is nothing wrong with them, and their sensitivity is one of their greatest gifts.
In Part 1 of this episode I share some of my own journey as a highly sensitive person and a few anecdotes and recurring themes:early signs of high sensory processing sensitivityoverwhelm from highly stimulating environments (including college)my 30 year quest for external validation and how medical education encouraged itimposter syndrome and why I was resisted letting it goContact:Email: soniasingh@junipermodernprimarycare.comInstagram: @soniasinghMDTwitter: @soniasinghMD
In this episode we answer the following questionsWhat does it mean to be a highly sensitive person (HSP)?What are some common qualities of HSPs?How are HSPs different from introverts and empaths (and how they are similar)?What is the data that supports the existence of this trait?How is being highly sensitive relevant to burnout in medicine?What finally convinced me that I wasn't alone in my experience of burnout?Links:The Highly Sensitive Person by Dr. Elaine Aron (Book)The Highly Sensitive Person Website & QuizAcevedo BP, Aron EN, Aron A, Sangster MD, Collins N, Brown LL. The highly sensitive brain: an fMRI study of sensory processing sensitivity and response to others' emotions. Brain Behav. 2014 Jul;4(4):580-94. doi: 10.1002/brb3.242. Epub 2014 Jun 23. PMID: 25161824; PMCID: PMC4086365. [Full Text]Friederike X.R. Gerstenberg, Sensory-processing sensitivity predicts performance on a visual search task followed by an increase in perceived stress, Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 53, Issue 4, 2012, Pages 496-500, ISSN 0191-8869. [Abstract]Morning Report (NEJM, 2017) by Sonia Singh MDOpen Letter to a Burned Out Intern (Annals of Internal Medicine, 2020) by Sonia Singh MDContact:Email: soniasingh@junipermodernprimarycare.comInstagram: @soniasinghMDTwitter: @soniasinghMD
This is a brief introduction to the podcast: what it's about, who it's for and why it matters.
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