Who Needs Balint Anyway?

Abstract

At every GP congress, Stanley Levenstein, a Cape Town family physician, can be found flying the Balint flag. Most Balint groups around the country have folded. "Balint Bashers" abound in family medicine . Nonetheless many people often emphasise the part Michael Balint played in the resurgence of general practice and quote excerpts from his book The Doctor, his Patient and the Illness, first published in 1957.