Maya describes the first three months as a period of research that produced no useful information. She read constantly and arrived at appointments with a general anxiety rather than a specific question, which is a difficult thing to answer in fifteen minutes.
The change she points to is not medical. She began keeping a short weekly note — four or five lines, written on a Sunday — and bringing the last few weeks of it with her.
It stopped being how have you been, and started being here are the three things I want to ask about.
She is careful about what she credits it with. The notes did not change any clinical decision she is aware of. What changed was that decisions were made with a fuller account in the room, and that she left appointments knowing what had been discussed rather than reconstructing it afterwards.
