This unique book is about the near-death experience of a medical illness, told as a provocative story about activating aloneness, disconnection, pain, suffering, loss, grief, impermanence, healing, resilience, renewal, love, hope, recovery, and a growing dialogue between faith, values, health, and science.
The author, a leading addiction psychiatrist describes how he learned the meaning of being a patient through the experience of physical and mental diminishment, vulnerability, and uncertainty. This journey is also about reexamining the author's approach to working with patients living with addiction and how it has profoundly shaped his professional identity and personal life. The book is deeply affirming, for both healthcare practitioners and lay people, offering an invitation to recognize the poignant value of working through their experience of illness, starting a conversation on how they choose to think of the world, themselves, their loved ones, their patients and families (for practitioners), and coming to terms with their own struggles and discovering their internal hidden resources and wisdom. This narrative has no intention to provide an expert advice or a recipe on how people should experience illness and reclaim their personhood and deep worth. A compelling contribution to the clinical literature, Rethinking Illness: A Psychiatrist's Near-Death Reckoning with Healing and Healthcare is written from the heart with profound call for a more holistic and deep appreciation and understanding of the interplay of personal, scientific, spiritual dimensions of health and healing, with the ultimate outcome of change and growth. This genre of memoir is an essential reading for everyone who is willing to examine the experience of living with an illness and everyone in training or working in healthcare.
Antoine Douaihy, MD, is a Professor of Psychiatry & Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Senior Academic Director of Addiction Medicine Services of Western Psychiatric Hospital, Director of Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), Director of Tobacco Treatment Service of
UPMC, and Vice Chair, Pittsburgh HIV Commission. His books include Humanizing Addiction Practice" published by Springer (2018) and a most recent 2nd edition of "Motivational Interviewing, A Guide for Medical Trainees, published by OUP (2023). Dr. Douaihy has focused his career on patient care, education, training, programs development, advocacy, and research in the field of addiction, psychology of behavior change, motivational interviewing, and HIV Psychiatry. He has a well-established record in conducting multisite clinical trials. He has served and currently serves as Principal Investigator (PI), Co-I, or a consultant on studies funded by NIAAA, NIDA, NIMH, SAMHSA, HRSA, and CDC. In recognition for his dedication to education, He has been the recipient of multiple teaching awards including the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award and the Donald Fraley Award for Medical Student Mentoring, recognizing him for the qualities of a masterful clinician, academician, educator, mentor, contributor to the medical school community and the community at large. His publications include research papers, clinical writings, patients and family educational materials, and academic books about substance use disorders and motivational interviewing.
No other authors will be involved in the writing of this proposed book.
