Volume 72, Issue 1 p. 121-125

Doctors' narratives in Balint groups

Stanley Rabin

Corresponding Author

Stanley Rabin

Department of Family Medicine, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University and Mental Health Services, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem, Israel

Department of Family Medicine, Building 130, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, P.O. Box 39040, Ramat-Aviv 61390, Israel.Search for more papers by this author
Benjamin Maoz

Benjamin Maoz

Department of Family Medicine, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Mental Health Services, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem and Department of Psychiatry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel

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Gerda Elata-Alster

Gerda Elata-Alster

Department of Literature, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel

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First published: 14 February 2011
Citations: 12

Abstract

There is a limited place today for narratives in traditional medicine. However, the Balint group is a legitimate forum providing doctors to unconditionally engage in discussing patients' stories within a secure and safe environment. This paper examines the importance of doctors' narratives in Balint groups and describes how insightful listening may help them move from a mainly biomedical mode to a narrative one, in order to change and repair their patients' and their own personal narratives.