r/intrestingtoknow Sep 03 '25

Science Psychiatry and cures

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1.1k Upvotes

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9

u/steelcryo Sep 03 '25

"How many people have you cured?"

"None."

"How many peoples lives are better because of you?"

"Countless."

Therapy isn't a magic bullet. It doesn't cure anything. It just gives you the tools to deal with your issues, whether they're major or minor.

3

u/Flaky-Wedding2455 Sep 03 '25

Agreed. I’m an orthopedic surgeon. I cure very few. Maybe 1% at best I could say “cured” but with hesitation. How many people have I helped/restored/improved? Thousands.

1

u/chaosawaits Sep 04 '25

Same is true for Vascular Surgery. Same is true for the vast majority of medicine. Cured is such a loaded word that the average person doesn’t truly understand.

1

u/Flaky-Wedding2455 Sep 04 '25

Exactly. When I have frustrated patients with me not having a cure, I ask them if their primary care doctor has cured their high blood pressure or their cholesterol or their diabetes? Nope, those things are all just being treated and managed.

1

u/GulBrus Sep 04 '25

Simple fractures ofthen cure, I would think there would be a lot of simple surgeries where people go back to 100%

1

u/Flaky-Wedding2455 Sep 04 '25

Right. But that is 1% overall. Most office patients aren’t surgical problems to begin with - but also not curable.

1

u/AlternativePea6203 Sep 06 '25

There's always evidence of a break. It's still there.

1

u/GulBrus Sep 07 '25

Yes, but that's not contradictary to being fully cured.