Teaching the wounded healer

The wounded healer remains easily hidden in a profession that implicitly, and at times actively, encourages a denial of illness. The wounded healer is, at the very least, less likely to encourage healthy habits in patients, and at the very worst, can become an impaired physician. In training, however, the wounded healer can be identified and treated before entering clinical practice. It would seem, then, that medical school and residency is an optimal time to identify and treat the wounded healer.