He was a successful physician, well respected in the community. But no one knows. Sadly, even in our close-knit medical community, this man had no really close friend in whom he confided. Traditional medical training steeps us in a tradition of independent self-reliance. We are to be in control, in charge.
Weakness is akin to incompetence.
We don't dare admit any doubt or insecurity about ourselves to anyone else for fear that word would get out to our patients or colleagues. We secretly know this is not healthy. It is not the way we advise our patients to handle their interpersonal lives. We have all seen the statistics about the rates of suicide, impairment with drugs or alcohol, and divorce being more common in doctors than the general population. Yet we are in denial.