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The quiet doctor

BMJ 2016; 353 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.i2173 (Published 24 May 2016) Cite this as: BMJ 2016;353:i2173
  1. George Gillett, fourth year medical student
  1. University of Oxford

Are medical schools doing enough to support their introverted students, and can a quiet doctor excel in medicine?

When Susan Cain wrote her book Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking she had no idea how successful it would become. It was published in 2013 and sold more than two million copies in 30 languages. In the book, she argues that our societal attitudes undervalue and discriminate against the traits of an introverted personality. Her TED talk on the subject, viewed more than 18 million times, has propelled Cain to a level of celebrity even higher than that expected of a New York Times author.

She defines introversion—separable from social anxiety or shyness—as a preference for “quiet concentration, listening rather than talking and thinking before speaking.”1 Introverts like to spend time alone and enjoy in-depth, one-on-one conversation rather than small talk. Generally, she claims, they have a contemplative, independent, and empathetic character. Extroverts, on the other hand, draw energy from social situations and group settings, enjoy thinking aloud, and thrive when at the centre of attention.

Today Cain runs a project called Quiet Revolution, which aims to rebalance how we think of quiet personalities. The website’s testimonies make it clear that Cain’s repositioning of introversion as a strength rather than a weakness has benefited people from many professions.2 Examples include a criminal psychologist who credits her acute observations to her introversion, a lawyer who began to take pride in her quietness, and a corporate manager who was promoted after her boss took a gamble on her calm thoughtful approach to leadership.

However, Cain’s quiet revolution seems to have had little effect in medicine. Doctors are usually portrayed in the media as extroverts—just think of the average episode of ER or Grey’s Anatomy. …

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