Parenting the crying child: Remember to take care of yourself

Physician
September 30, 2013

I don’t think of myself as someone who is easily angered. In my capacity as a mental health provider, I have been called every name in the book, spat at and nearly assaulted. Although these experiences are never pleasant, I can intellectualize away my feelings about patients’ hostile behavior: this is just a part of their illness. While I have certainly felt frustrated after a long night on call, I …

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Parenting the crying child: Remember to take care of yourself

Listen to the stories behind substance dependence

Physician
June 27, 2013

“You don’t have any idea what you’re dealing with, do you?” asked Mr. Johnson a mere two minutes into my interview. The scene is the Crisis Intervention Unit. The time is 3:00am. I have a feeling my breath is terrible. The hospital pizza I engulfed earlier in the evening has decided to stage a churning acidic protest in my guts. However, far worse than my half-closed eyes, my halitosis or my …

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Listen to the stories behind substance dependence

One morning I woke up and I wasn’t an intern anymore

Medical Education
May 22, 2013

One Saturday morning at the Salt Lake City Veterans Affairs Medical Center, I got out of a call room bed and realized I had done it. The year everyone dreads, the year everyone says, “you just need to get through” was finally over. I had completed my write-ups on all the patients I admitted overnight. My emergency room consultation requests had been seen. I checked my pager for missed pages: …

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One morning I woke up and I wasn’t an intern anymore

Why the Connecticut gun law does not improve care for the mentally ill

Physician
May 9, 2013

Like my fellow Connecticut residents still shaken by the Newtown shootings, I was excited and relieved when Connecticut Senate Bill 1160 (“An Act Concerning Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety”) passed. The law establishes a dangerous weapons offenders registry and requires a universal background check for all gun purchases. Those wishing to purchase long guns will need an eligibility certificate which requires fingerprints, a firearms safety training course and a …

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Why the Connecticut gun law does not improve care for the mentally ill

The locked inpatient psychiatry unit: What’s it really like?

Physician
April 19, 2013

As I walk onto any one of the locked psychiatric units at our hospital I am immediately struck by the hum of intense activity. It’s like the startling feeling of stepping out of an air-conditioned apartment into the steamy height of a New Haven summer. Across from the nurses’ station, a psychologist interviews a patient retelling the story of constant childhood molestation as rivulets of mascara run down her cheeks. …

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The locked inpatient psychiatry unit: What’s it really like?