Must not be good enough at my job

Ethical healthcare pros who dare to tell patients that pain is too complex for any one treatment to be highly effective often face disbelief, disapproval, even contempt. One massage therapist told me recently:

“Some definitely think I just must not be good enough at my job.”

Awful! 😞

She can thank decades of too-good-to-be-true promises from cranks, quacks, and snake oil salesman for that tragic attitude: they have constantly and aggressively inflated consumer expectations, effectively training most of the people of Earth to believe that there must be easy answers to these hard problems. Even the cynics who assume that most of it is bullshit still think you just have to be savvy enough to buy the right therapy/gadget/supplement.

Be more cynical! And — please — appreciate and reward humility in healthcare when you see it.