Putting Stock in Your Doc

In Your Medical Mind, Jerome Groopman and Pamela Hartzband write about beliefs and medical choices.

Jerome Groopman, author and New Yorker writer (not to mention Recanati professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School), has written a book with his wife, assistant professor of medicine Pamela Hartzband, his most discerning critic (see “The Examined Life,” Harvard Magazine’s profile of Groopman) about patient attitudes toward doctors and medicine. The couple, whose book Your Medical Mind: How to Decide What is Right For You, was featured in the Boston Globe on October 3, say that patient beliefs are an important consideration when deciding how to treat an illness. They describe three dimensions of patient attitude, ranging from believer to doubter, maximalist to minimalist, and technologist to naturalist. Believers trust in medical solutions, while doubters focus on the fallibility of doctors and medical interventions; maximalists exhaust every avenue of treatment, while minimalists accept that medicine can't cure every ailment; technologists prefer the latest treatments, while naturalists seek homeopathic sorts of remedies. Groopman and Hartzband believe that the right treatment is different for each person and depends in part on the attitudes patients brings to their care. 

“Patients who are comfortable with their treatment plans are more likely to follow their medication regimen and take good care of themselves,” the Globe reported the pair saying. “And they are less likely to have deep regrets if the treatment doesn't turn out as they'd hoped.”

You might also like

The Roman Empire’s Cosmopolitan Frontier

Genetic analysis reveals a culture enriched from both sides of the Danube.

Tobacco Smoke and Tuberculosis

Harvard researchers illuminate a longstanding epidemiological connection. 

Discourse and Discipline

Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences broaches two tough topics.

Most popular

Small-Town Roots

Professors’ humble beginnings, concentration choices, and a mini history of Harvard and Radcliffe presidents

Vita: Fanny Bullock Workman

Brief life of a feisty mountaineer: 1859-1925

Being Black at Work

Realizing the full potential of black employees

More to explore

Illustration of a box containing a laid-off fossil fuel worker's office belongings

Preparing for the Energy Transition

Expect massive job losses in industries associated with fossil fuels. The time to get ready is now.

Apollonia Poilâne standing in front of rows of fresh-baked loaves at her family's flagship bakery

Her Bread and Butter

A third-generation French baker on legacy loaves and the "magic" of baking

Illustration that plays on the grade A+ and the term Ai

AI in the Academy

Generative AI can enhance teaching and learning but augurs a shift to oral forms of student assessment.