PSYCHOSEXUAL PROBLEMS IN THE CONTRACEPTIVE CONSULTATION – CHOICE OF VENUE AND DOCTOR (CONCLUSION)
Some patients hope to be supplied with contraception almost by remote control: they attend with several small children and multiple complaints, slipping in a request for ‘and can I have some Pills while I’m here?‘ The exhausted doctor, trying to stop the children from wrecking the surgery and smearing their sticky hands over everything within reach, reaches for the pen and only half-heartedly suggests that the mother should attend for herself next time. The doctor should not be surprised when this patient reattends pregnant yet again, having taken the Pills incorrectly or having stopped them because she ‘didn’t feel right taking them’. The patient’s feelings, her inability to control anything (the children, her husband, life) were disguised by her reluctance to let the doctor near enough to examine anything – even her blood pressure. Domiciliary family planning may be the only answer initially for this patient; she may be able to let the doctor or nurse near enough to discover her needs when her own territory allows her at least some control.
*290/197/1*
