possibly one of the most amazing days of my life

 "The essence of relationship is that in the encounter, both persons are changed." - Rollo May, an amazing existential psychologist

Today was an amazing day. And I feel like I've said that a lot lately, but today was really great. Today was a Fellows' Symposium - clinical and research fellows presented on a variety of topics, and it was so interesting. My 2 favorite presentations included the one on long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy with cancer patients, and the other one was on "my most meaningful patient". This one was very striking. It was presented by a clinical DO psychiatry fellow, and the patient turned out to be a psychiatry intern who ended up passing away because of a pulmonary embolism after surgery, and the fellow brought up the idea that when the boundaries between patient and doctor blur, is that always a bad thing? This patient was a fellow colleague, yet here was this fellow acting also as her psychiatrist, but she was also her friend. Many people in the therapy world would cringe at this, the whole taboo of dual relationships. Based on comments the fellow made about the support (or lack thereof) from her fellowship cohort, it was very interesting to think about the shifting roles, and how people see their role in the therapeutic and medical relationship. I think some people - physicians, psychologists, therapists - are so hell bent on maintaining boundaries, which are definitely necessary, I'm not discounting them - but some people fail to see that sometimes a blurring of boundaries can be more therapeutic - for both parties involved. Sometimes, as clinicians, we are so afraid of self-disclosing, that I think a crucial human element of the essence of relationship gets lost. 

Another reason today was so great was that not only were many people I've read about from MSKCC's psychiatry department there today, but the founder of psycho-oncology, Jimmie Holland, was also there. She is a psychiatrist at MSKCC, and basically pioneered the field. Ever since I read her handbook of psycho-oncology 4 years ago, I have been in awe of this woman. Her book The Human Side of Cancer is one of my favorite and most read books, and I just have the utmost respect and admiration for her. Years ago, I even told a doctor who worked at MSKCC that I wanted Jimmie Holland's job! And I was only half-kidding. To see her, in the flesh, was amazing. I will probably see her throughout the summer at various things and/or at the office, but today it was like....wow.