By most measures, the treatment was working. The symptoms had improved. Sleep was more consistent. The edge of panic had softened into something more manageable. The medications were tolerated, the therapy was progressing, and the follow-ups were steady.

On paper, this was what success in psychiatry is supposed to look like, and yet, something in the room said otherwise. It is not always obvious. There is no scale that captures it …

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From the outside, medicine is often imagined as a profession defined by urgency and dramatic turning points. People picture emergency rooms where rapid decisions determine outcomes, life-saving interventions performed under pressure, and moments when a physician’s action decisively alters the course of illness. These moments certainly exist, and they remain some of the most visible parts of medical practice, but they represent only a small fraction of what most physicians …

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As a psychiatrist, I often find myself confronting not only the symptoms of mental illness but also the deep scars left by stigma. Even in 2025, despite advances in neuroscience and a growing cultural focus on mental health, stigma remains one of the greatest barriers to healing. It manifests in silence, shame, and misunderstanding, and it affects patients, families, and even those of us within the psychiatric profession. Addressing stigma …

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It is a routine Saturday morning—I am sitting in my office, looking at the snowflakes dropping outside my window. As I sip on my cup of Earl Grey tea preparing my psyche for a busy day of managing an on-call shift on an acute care psychiatry floor, I am suddenly washed over by grief. A very similar Saturday a year ago, I was saying goodbye to my father as he …

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Would you ever consider a routine day at the office as how many people are going to abuse you?

As a psychiatrist who works primarily in an acute care setting, I look after patients that enter the emergency room with complex mental health and social difficulties. I have been doing this work for close to a decade now. I often get asked why I choose to continue the work, and the …

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