In graduate school we studied the developmental theories of the great psychological thinkers of the 20th century. Donald Winnicott, was one of my favorites. He came up with the notion of the good-enough mother as a way of counter-balancing the Freudian emphasis on how adversely a person is effected when a mother is totally dysfunctional.

Mothers are not perfect, but most aren't monsters either. While the good-enough mother, makes mistakes, Dr. Winnicott said, her greatest achievement is in being able to provide her child with enough support and confidence to form a healthy separate identity. In other words, a good-enough mother not only wants her child to grow to be independent she encourages it in a nurturing manner.

If you have chronic illness chances are you will run into all shapes and forms of medical doctor. Doctors are rarely perfect and most are not monsters even if some behave in a beastly manner. A good-enough doctor is one who has enough good traits and no 'deal breaking' fatal flaws. He or she works as hard as you do to eventually put himself out of a job because you become too healthy to need him anymore.

I re-worked this article Tips to Find A Good Enough Doctor for PsychCentral's World of Psychology. Please tell me what you think. I'd love to hear from you.