And Sulkowicz says his marriage of psych and consulting can help physicians master the difficulties of managing a practice. Consulting is not all that different from traditional psychoanalysis between a therapist and a patient. First, the consultant meets with the chief executive officer or the equivalent leaders of the client organization in search of the manifest reason for the corporate dysfunction.
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We get to know individuals first, but the bulk of the work is with the group. Much like individual psychoanalysis, putting a company on a couch can take some time. The consultant often stays to see the changes integrated and develops an ongoing relationship with the client. Another goal is helping the management team develop their own set of tools to do themselves what the consultant is doing. With respect to medical practices, the psychoanalytic consultation can help in a number of ways, Sulkowicz says.