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Marital CounselingThe time honoured image of the doctor as the father (or mother) image to be confided in and consulted on family problems is rapidly disappearing. Medicine is becoming fragmented and compartmentalized under the influence of superspecialization. In some leading countries the medico-legal aspects of the doctorpatient relationship have come to exert a dominant influence on the practice. For centuries the medical professional in Islamic countries has been called the 'wise man', a term that is synonymous with 'doctor' until this very day. After a long career I firmly believe that the doctor remains in a most suitable position to handle family problems and perhaps rescue threatened marriages and bring reconciliation, harmony and happiness into many homes: all without trespassing outside the boundaries of medical practice. Once gaining their confidence and establishing good rapport with them, a doctor can play a very positive role in the lives of his patients provided he is aware of this aspect of the doctor's duties, and is sensitive to their worries and pre-occupations and able to listen to what they say and to what they refrain from saying. It is quite often to discover that a husband and wife who share the intimacies of one bed, nevertheless suffer an appreciable communication gap that only their trusted doctor can bridge. A host of causes may threaten a marriage, whether sexual, physical or behavioural, that an ordinary person would not wish to speak about, or even realize that they are aetiological in their marital dysharmony. In a large number of instance the keen doctor can unearth them and perhaps put the trust he (or she) is accorded to good use. To aquire some insight in the Islamic views about marriage will certainly help. |
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- The author. |