Why are some Old TCM Doctors so Bad-Tempered?

Because they are the experts in what they do, know their s*^~ inside out and have no time for patients who don’t listen or misbehave in their practice.

Well, at least that’s the gist of it.

In the past, when I was younger, I did visit before old TCM doctors for my own illnesses, aches and pains and have had slammed-in-the-face experiences with some of their temper and attitude.

Even after stepping into the TCM world as an intern, some of the mentors that I had worked with also displayed the same kind of ‘don’t-give-me-nonsense-if-not-you-will-get-it’ kind of aura.

Why? I often pondered. And sometimes the naïve righteous me will think that it is so unfair for the patients to be faced with such attitude from the doctors.

But I was wrong.

Now that I am a full fledged practicing TCM doctor, I can fully understand the evolvement of supposedly angelic doctors to coldhearted arrogant self proclaimed God.

Let me share a few insights of the world of a TCM doctor in specific (but I noticed this extends to all healers and practitioners too).

1.       It’s a long arduous journey to become a doctor (of any field)

The journey is an extremely excruciating long one that few humans can have the strength in mind and spirit to take it. The frustrations and monotony of the journey are usually only to be understood by those on it. There is a lot of time when doctors themselves will feel like no one in the world truly understand what they are going through.

2.       Some patients see themselves as being serviced by doctors

…which is a big illusion of this group of patients. I think I have mentioned before, true healing takes place when there is a working relationship between the patient and doctor, and not having the patient throw the full responsibilities of their health to the doctor. For these patients they tend to just do whatever they want and blame the doctors when they did not recover. There is always this group of patients that we as doctors cannot fail to not meet in our practice, which can add to the already high level of stress as doctors.

3.       Some patients just do not know or are incapable of observing the normal social etiquettes

Patients being patients, either they are highly imbalanced or they are born that way, usually cannot carry themselves well as a normal person. This group of patients find it hard to observe and adhere to the basic social etiquettes. Lateness, intensive reschedulings, last minute cancellations with no reasons, no shows are just some imbalanced behaviors (I will put it as that) of this group. But it can cause a hell of disruptions and havoc in the doctor’s practice.

Now for old TCM doctors, day in day out they have to face with the above, which are just tips of the iceberg. I have seen more nonsense in my mentors’ practice and also my own practice. It can really test the limit of the doctor as a normal human being to put up with the challenges. So I will say, there will come a point when the old TCM doctors (especially those that know their stuffs) cannot be bothered to put up anymore with the imbalanced attitudes and vibes. They will rather this group of patients look for help elsewhere than to mess around their clinics. Because life is short, and doctors are the ones especially who have seen it all and know that time is too precious to spend on people who are out to create trouble or do not believe in what they do.

old-tcm-doctors-bad-temper

Because usually these old doctors know their worth and they are not there to convince you to believe in what they do. They know they have no time for that and they can better use their energy and time on Earth to help those that sincerely need help.

So the next time you are faced with a bad tempered TCM doctor (or any other doctors), be grateful. Usually these are the doctors who know their stuffs, are out to help, not out to sell.

TCM(Traditional Chin Med), Etiquette as a PatientXiang Jun LimDr (TCM) Xiang Juntcm, old doctors, bad tempered