KEEP UP WITH THE HEDONIC TREADMILL YOUR PATIENTS ARE ON

I THINK I am starting to come to terms with the stark reality that I am getting old. As previously stated, the more obvious signs include the olfactory pelt that has a growth inspired by “Jack and the Beanstalk.” However, at this moment, it is the notion that my radio pre-sets are composed of more talk than music stations!

Drinking my second cup of coffee, massaging the pain in my groin (which started after my back was aching), I ventured to NPR on the digital radio dial. The topic was the hedonic treadmill, and, as always, it elicited a neuronal cascade of images related to our chosen profession.

WAVES OF HAPPINESS

For those of you who are not familiar with the hedonic treadmill, it is a psychological theory that proposes people return to their level of happiness, regardless of what happens to them. Good examples are thinking about that vacation of a lifetime, a Shake Shack coming to your city or the onslaught of new technologies (iPhone 8 coming soon!). Once they pass, we set our sights on something else to get us more happiness. The problem is, we have to raise the stakes each time to achieve the desired effect. That darn hedonic adaptation is weaved into the fabrics of our psyche; and yet, I firmly state s a whole, this is not an optometric phenomenon.

Take a few seconds to let what you just read seep in . . . Now, look at your office, lane, waiting room. Do you have tablets and electronic portals for patients to fill out their medical history? Do you have monitors showing your wares and optometric acumen? When you tell a patient to “update” his prescription, are you encouraging him to move into a newer contact lens? If you are the minority, you are saying a lot of “yasss!” Rather, I would venture to state, with a great deal of certainty, that you are saying, “No.” In fact, I can already feel the headwinds mentally emitted by jumping on that treadmill otherwise known as excuses.

Brickman and Campbell originally described the hedonic treadmill theory in 1971. Since that original theory, others have noted that happiness can change. We can have multiple sets of happiness that can give us positive feelings greater than neutral. More specifically, for each new and exciting event, we raise our position of content a little bit higher than baseline.

Take this same approach with your patients and offices: We don’t look for new and exciting; we are pushed by insurance demands or fear. Through the last decade, we have known that what we call dry eye is inflammatory. And yet, how many of us have done anything different to diagnosis and treat this? We know that the lids have major implications on tear stability, and, yet, are you investing in new diagnostic measures? Automated higher-order refractors, new medications for treatment and new schools of thought on corneal healing through amniotic membranes are all options left for another day. AKA headwinds.

We need to let the tailwinds push us in the direction of newer and more advanced treatment and diagnostic approaches. Bring the hedonic treadmill theory into your office not just for the latest smart watch or laptop. Release your optometric hedonism! OM

DR. BLOOMENSTEIN practices at Schwartz Laser Eye Center in Scottsdale, Ariz. He is a founding member of the Optometric Council on Refractive Technology. He is a speaker and advisory board member for: Allergan, Bausch + Lomb, Shire, Akorn, TearLab, OcuSoft, Lunovus and AMO. Email him at mbloomenstein@gmail.com.