Preface

"Trust me, I'm a doctor."

That statement has been the title of a song, a book, a TV show and used in the advertising of Dr. Pepper. It has made it into modern culture and embodies the belief that we should and do trust doctors.

I am a doctor. In my professional life, I want my patients to trust me. I also hope that readers will put their trust in the experience and knowledge of the authors of this book. However, I never want my patients to blindly trust me. I want them to ask questions or offer their observations and experiences. In that same way, I don't want you as the reader to blindly trust these chapters. I hope that you will use them as a jumping-off point. I want you to contemplate the ideas that we offer but bring your own questions to the discussions. Perhaps you will be inspired to consider a new aspect of trust.

This book offers a variety of thoughts about trust. Trust has always been complicated. How do we know when to trust another person? How do we know how to trust ourselves? I often work with patients who are very critical of themselves. We work in therapy to recognize that our thoughts are not always the truth. So how do we trust and know what is real?

Trust has become more complicated with the advent of the internet. We can now connect with more ideas and individuals. Yet, is the person who communicates back with us real? Is it someone with a fake account or maybe not even a person at all, but a robot? Even though trust is complicated and we can sometimes be taken advantage of, we still need to find ways to trust others in our lives. Trust allows us to develop a community. We have always needed the community to be safe, both physically and emotionally.

Once, in group therapy, the patients and I discussed how we know if we can trust someone. Some of the guidelines included whether they told the truth to the best of their ability. We looked at reliability. We discussed the need for someone to be compassionate and not emotionally or physically abusive. How can we trust someone if they are hurting us or taking advantage of us? We discussed ways to re-establish trust allowing someone in bit by bit. Trust can be a process of development. Yes, it takes a final leap of faith but one that is built on evidence that the person has done what they promised, has been there for us, and will continue to honor and respect our values.

We value you as a reader and hope that you will find that we have completed what we promised to do - provide a look at the psychology of trust.

> **Martha Peaslee Levine, MD** Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
