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tuesday, november 12 , 2019. washingtonpost.com/health-science ee e
BY WILLIAM WAN
adam glanzman for the Washington PostERs could help curb suicides
Patients should be asked about having thoughts of killing themselves, researchers say
BY ALLISON HIRSCHLAG
Just before my junior year of high
school, as the last precious days of
summer vacation shrank away, my mom
sat me down for a serious conversation.
she calmly told me that she had been
diagnosed with breast cancer — a year
earlier.
I must’ve looked at her as if I’d just
witnessed someone get hit by a truck.
she quickly explained that it had been
localized stage one, which meant she
hadn’t needed chemotherapy, just a
small operation and seven weeks of
radiation. she said she didn’t tell me
because she didn’t want to worry me
over something that was no big deal.
“so you’re okay now?” I’d asked,
feeling more like I was the one who had
been hit by a truck. she said yes, we
hugged and that was that.
But I wasn’t okay. I was angry, hurt
and shaken. I felt like an afterthought. I
wondered if my mom thought I was this
fragile child who couldn’t handle any-
thing c ritical even though I was 16. What
if I really was that incapable? The
thought laid seeds of doubt in my brain.
even now as an adult, I can sometimes
feel paralyzed by stressful situations a nd
see secret on e4
Don’t keep your
illness a secret
from loved ones
BY DEBRA BRUNO
Diane Fresquez rests on an operating
table at Cliniques Universitaires saint-
Luc hospital in Brussels, a pale blue cap
on her head. she’s having her two tiny
parathyroid glands removed.
But for this operation, Fresquez is
awake. Cradling her head with two hands
and stroking her forehead is Fabienne
Roelants, an anesthesiologist who is us-
ing hypnosis to get Fresquez through the
procedure.
“I’m inviting you to fix upon some-
where, not to take your eyes off it,”
Roelants says in a French-accented voice.
“now you can close your eyes, to be more
relaxed and more comfortable.” Fresquez
closes her eyes. “now you are at a day in
november,” Roelants continues. “It’s a
Thanksgiving dinner at home. I’m invit-
ing you to observe your friends, your
husband. The lights are low, and small
candles are flickering in the windowsill.”
As Roelants talks, Fresquez grows to-
tally still and her eyes close. A surgeon
inserts a long needle into her neck to
numb just the area near her parathyroid
glands and then cuts a one-inch hole in
her throat area to remove two glands,
see hypnotherapy on e5
Hypnotherapy
can aid some
with surgery
BY ISOBEL ROSENTHAL
every July, a fresh group of newly
minted doctors puts on their white
coats. no more playacting “doctor” as
they did moving through medical school
— from here on, they’ll be trusted with
keeping people alive.
A close doctor friend told me the best
piece of advice she could give me for my
internship was to “externalize.”
I’m training to be a psychiatrist, but
my program has me rotate through
several other fields, such as emergency
room medicine, and for these tough,
bloody months, my friend told me I had
to leave my emotions at home. It was a
survival tactic, she said: To do your best,
you need to slip on a suit of armor.
I took her advice and during months
of grueling night shifts in the eR, I’d
imagine pulling a layer of slinky silver
armor over my thin blue scrubs. I hoped
this make-believe psychological armor
would protect me from the constant
noise, the stressed-out staff members,
the frustrated patients and their family
members, and even the bone-grinding
effects of exhaustion.
I could tune out everyone and every-
see new doctor on e5
A new doctor’s
emotional armor
while on duty
physics
scientists analyze Jackson
Pollock’s famous painting
technique. e2skies
horses, faces, elvis. Why do
we see so many shapes in
the clouds? e2consumer reports
high blood pressure is risky
for pregnant women and
their babies. e3space
Bottles of fr ench wine
arrived at the space station.
But not for drinking. e6edwin Boudreaux, a
professor of emergency
medicine and psychiatry,
has spent the past
decade testing suicide
screening in emergency
rooms in seven states.
the suicide-prevention
expert is convinced the
approach saves lives.E
dwin Boudreaux remembers the first time he was left in charge of a pa-
tient as a graduate student training to be a psychologist. The patient had
come in for routine diabetes treatment but it quickly became apparent
she was suicidal. ¶ “She was so suicidal, I had to walk her from our clinic
to the emergency department just to make sure nothing would happen in
between,” Boudreaux said. ¶ Almost three decades later, Boudreaux has produced
compelling research showing an alarming number of emergency room patients com-
ing in for unrelated problems have nascent, undetected suicidal thoughts — a large
population who might be saved if doctors and nurses would simply ask if they’re hav-
ing suicidal thoughts. ¶ “It should be a no-brainer,” said Boudreaux, professor of
emergency medicine and psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical
School, who has been one of many suicide prevention researchers pushing to make
such screening mandatory in ERs nationwide. “You can save hundreds of lives doing
this. But the amount of pushback has been frustrating.” see suicide on e6