Aaron and Mel discuss why so many doctors are a little socially inept. It has to do with who they are selected and the work they have to put in. But is that bad? Will it change, can you get great doctors with normal personalities? All will be revealed!
Your comments about “art counter-culture types” and your social ineptness discussion seem to subtly reveal an imbeded residue of of resentment, hurt, bewilderment, and awkwardness experienced as children that still remains even after all the years of hard work (and memorization!) you have done, partly to gain respect and to become a member of that exclusive club of the socially brilliant. Brilliance has many forms (social, artistic, intellectual, etc.) and all forms are equal. I have hope for the future that we will do a better job of nurturing children so that they admire, respect and accept their own and others’ differences.
Great discussion- we discuss a lot of these issues in med school, being so close to the admissions process. I agree—you can and should have both intelligence and social skills/empathy. It seems to me that any truly successful doctor would have both and more. Would love to see an RSS feed for the site!