The Doctor, His Patient and the Illness: Michael Balint

Abstract

Remembering where you were when Jack Kennedy died has become a favourite question to ask of people of an age to remember that day in November 1963. For a certain generation of general practitioners, a not dissimilar question might be, “When did you first read The Doctor, His Patient and the Illness?” Balint's impact on general practice is remarkable and unquestioned. His book, first published in 1957, appears among the top ten, if not the top three, that all new entrants into general practice ‘must read’. Yet the paradox is that few, if any, trainees will actually read his book, that Balint groups have a falling membership, that the Balint Society, founded after his death by a group of GPs, is on the periphery of modern general practice thinking, and that few if any permanent developments have come from his followers. Balint might well be excused if he paraphrased the quote attributed to Jung, “Thank God I'm Balint and not a Balintian”.