Jeff welcomes to the podcast clinical psychologist and certified mental performance consultant, James Doorley, PhD, CMPC.
Dr. Dorley explains that performance psychology can teach us a lot as surgeons. Through his collaborative work with Dr. Naples he has learned that the mental side of surgery is not emphasized as much as it could be in many surgical training programs. Many surgeons have a casual understanding of these mental aspects, but it’s not built into our training or emphasized during our careers.
Performance psychology is different from talking about feelings or emotions with a therapist; it’s akin to a quarterback working with a mindset coach to play their best under duress.
What steps does Jim suggest we take to implement performance psychology skills into our daily routines?
What steps does Jim suggest we take to implement performance psychology skills into our daily routines?
- Step 1 – Raise Awareness. Become aware of performance psychology and its benefits to the medical community. The best sports teams in the US are now employing performance psychologists to help elite athletes perform their best. Surgeons can and should be doing the same.
- Step 2 – Incorporate Performance Psychology. Use performance psychology skills like visualization, bolstered by decades of science, to support your best practice.
Most importantly, PRACTICE performance psychology to improve performance!
Guest: James Doorley, PhD, CMPC
Dr. James Naples is the Residency Program Director of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and a Clinical Advisor at Harvard Medical School. He has mentored residents and students through various stages of their training, and focuses on ways to improve their performance. Clinically, he is interested in cochlear implant, Acoustic Neuroma and vestibular disorders.
Dr. Naples earned his medical degree from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and stayed there to complete his residency training in otolaryngology–head and neck surgery. He then completed his fellowship training in neurotology at the Perelman School of Medical at the University of Pennsylvania.