Dr Phil Kieran: Sometimes what the doctor orders is not visiting the GP

I’m a GP and I'm always trying to empower my patients to understand their health and to know what they can sit with while the body’s immune system gets to work and what needs medical intervention.

Going to the doctor to get medication or to make sure medication isn’t needed can seem like the conscientious thing to do. But harm can arise from unintentionally teaching children that all health issues are scary or complicated and need to be seen by a doctor. Picture: iStock 

“10 shocking medical symptoms parents always overlook”, and “We all need to tell our doctor to test our children for…” These are two types of headlines I find unhelpful because they prey on people’s fear of missing something serious, and they ignore the damage done by over-medicalising normal experiences.

I’m a GP, and in my day-to-day work, one of my responsibilities is health education. I’m always trying to empower my patients to understand their health and to know what they can sit with while the body’s immune system gets to work and what needs medical intervention.