60. Elizabeth Hughes MD: Doctors Emotionally Abusive Relationship With Our Careers

Are you ready to redefine your relationship with your career? 

In this insightful episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Elizabeth Hughes, a dermatologist, coach, speaker, and creator of her own skincare line. We delved into the fascinating topic of physicians' relationship with their career, specifically exploring the parallels between our professional lives (Medicine, the job) and dysfunctional romantic relationships often seen in movies. Dr. Hughes reveals her personal journey of how she transformed her life and career to create meaningful change. She also shares her wisdom on recognizing when it's time to make a change, stepping out of the whirlwind, and setting boundaries to protect yourself from toxic relationships. 

“Staying in that bad relationship was not doing the right thing for my children. And so for medicine, it was staying in medicine as I was practicing was actually not doing the right thing for my patients. It was time for me to make a change. That became my driving force.” - Dr. Elizabeth Hughes

“So that's why burnout is inevitable for an employee physician. There will come a time where you say, I can't take it anymore. And that's when burnout puts you on a path with more purpose. Just like the day you realize, I can't go on in this relationship anymore." - Dr. Dike Drummond

Episode highlights:

• Realizing the power of choice and the possibility of making a difference
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• Five signs you’re in a toxic personal life & career relationship:

2. An abuser never admits to being wrong.
3. 
   
5. The abuser never actually trusts you.
6. 
   
8. An abuser does whatever he wants and expects you to roll with the punches.
9. 
   
11. An abuser expects you the the victim to support all of his freeloader friends.
12. 
    
14. Abusers make their victims feel wholly dependent on them.

• Navigating job descriptions and burnout
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• The various levels of detachment from one's professional life

Resources mentioned: KevinMD article: https://www.kevinmd.com/2023/02/the-dark-side-of-medicine-how-the-profession-can-become-an-emotionally-and-psychologically-manipulative-relationship.html

Connect with Dr. Hughes: Website: https://ElizabethHughesMD.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethhughesmd/

Watch this on Youtube: https://youtu.be/fWsoGDZxKno

Learn more about Dr. Dike and The Happy MD: https://linktr.ee/dikedrummond

Web contact form: https://www.thehappymd.com/contact

We would love to hear your feedback. Send us your review on Apple Podcasts/Itunes, or in other directories through this link:

https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/physicians-on-purpose-1546320

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