💔 What is “robotism” in healthcare?
For healthcare workers:
Being reduced to productivity metrics, checkboxes, or quotas.
Suppressing authentic human responses (emotions, needs, creativity) to stay on autopilot.
Loss of personal meaning, replaced by rigid protocols with little room for relational care.
For patients:
Being seen as a diagnosis, not a person.
Rushed interactions where their stories and lived experiences are overlooked.
Treatment plans that ignore emotional, social, and spiritual needs.
The stress & trauma
Chronic stress from being in high-pressure systems that value efficiency over humanity.
Moral injury from participating in or witnessing care that goes against one’s values.
Disembodiment — disconnecting from one’s feelings or body to keep up with demands.
Accumulated trauma from repeated experiences of being treated (or treating others) mechanically.
What is recovery?
Rehumanizing yourself and your experience.
Restoring your sense of agency, compassion, and connection.
Reconnecting to your nervous system, emotions, and values.
Building capacity to experience life outside of “survival autopilot.”
Somatic and MindBody approaches
Gentle practices to reconnect with sensations, breath, and personal rhythms.
Unpacking how hyper-efficiency and perfectionism live in the body.
Learning to slow down, feel, and process stored stress or trauma.
Creating new internal pathways for safety, creativity, and authentic care.
National Academy of Medicine
Healthy Providers, Healthy Patients: Advancing Workforce Well-Being in the Health Professions
“Over 60% of healthcare professionals report experiencing symptoms of burnout, such as extreme anxiety, stress, depression, and emotional exhaustion. ”