This is a more personal post than most for me, but it seems right during the holiday season. I’ve written before about the field of correctional psychiatry. In that particular post, I mentioned some of the appealing factors of working as a correctional psychiatrist. I realize that some people find it difficult to believe that there are intrinsic rewards to working with inmates. If there weren’t, though,  none of us would do what we do. There is no doubt that there are also many challenges. Many inmates, for various reasons, test even the most seasoned clinicians’ patience.

However, one does not need to be a health care professional in corrections to work with difficult people. In fact, one does not have to be working at all. Everyone must deal with rude, aggressive, demanding, or irrational people to varying degrees in different life situations.

I do believe, though, that

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