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Book Review  |   April 2017
Inner Strength: Osteopathic Medical Students Reflect on Resiliency
Karen J. Nichols, DO, MA, MACOI, CS
Author Notes
  • Midwestern University Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, Downers Grove, Illinois 
Article Information
Book Review   |   April 2017
Inner Strength: Osteopathic Medical Students Reflect on Resiliency
The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, April 2017, Vol. 117, 277. doi:10.7556/jaoa.2017.048
The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, April 2017, Vol. 117, 277. doi:10.7556/jaoa.2017.048
by Tyler Cymet (ed). American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine; 2016. 127 pp. ISBN: 987-0-9974411-0-9. 

You cannot be faulted for how you see the world, but you can be faulted for thinking that how you see the world is how it really is.

 
I don’t know the source of that quote or even if I have quoted it precisely, but the point has always intrigued me. I interpret it to mean that as long as I see my own world, I am fine, but when I assume that everyone else sees what I do, then I am usually badly mistaken. Inner Strength: Osteopathic Medical Students Reflect on Resiliency is a collection of essays by current osteopathic medical students that speaks to this perspective. It was sobering to read, as I have met several of the essayists and had no idea about their life events or how these events were affecting them. The most impressive aspect of these personal stories is that all of the students came out on the other side of their challenges. I wish we could say that all osteopathic medical students have and will. The book is well organized into sections about family and friends, fear of failure, and illness, among other topics. The value of this book is to serve as a catalyst to prompt osteopathic physicians to stop and realize that not only may our students, interns, and residents have such challenges, but so may our colleagues; we just may not see it. Maybe we should look.