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Farid Sabet-Sharghi, MD

Farid Sabet-Sharghi is a psychiatrist.

Physicians

Physician retirement is a myth for the ripening doctor

"Are you retired yet?" The question caught me off guard. It was not the query itself, I have reached my mid-60s, after all, but the underlying assumption it carried. Having practiced for over three decades, I found myself momentarily silenced…

“Are you retired yet?”

The question caught me off guard. It was not the query itself, I have reached my mid-60s, after all, but the underlying assumption it carried. Having practiced for over three decades, I found myself momentarily silenced by a word that feels entirely foreign to my current internal state.

As a psychiatrist, I have spent a lifetime listening to the narratives of others. Now, I find my own narrative …

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Physician retirement is a myth for the ripening doctor

Physicians

Why physician well-being matters at every career stage

The life of a physician is often viewed as a linear climb, a constant upward trajectory of achievement, responsibility, and endurance. But after decades in the field, I have come to realize that medicine is not a straight line. It…

The life of a physician is often viewed as a linear climb, a constant upward trajectory of achievement, responsibility, and endurance. But after decades in the field, I have come to realize that medicine is not a straight line. It is a series of seasons. If we fail to recognize the changing weather of our own lives, we risk arriving at the final season with broken bodies and weary minds. …

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Why physician well-being matters at every career stage

Meds

Ketamine therapy and the primacy of mind in modern medicine

In the modern clinic, we often operate under an unstated a priori assumption that if a phenomenon is real, its primary explanation must be molecular. As a psychiatrist, I find this reductionist bias increasingly apparent in how we conceptualize "breakthrough"…

In the modern clinic, we often operate under an unstated a priori assumption that if a phenomenon is real, its primary explanation must be molecular. As a psychiatrist, I find this reductionist bias increasingly apparent in how we conceptualize “breakthrough” treatments like ketamine therapy for depression or chronic pain. When we discuss how ketamine works, the conversation almost instantly gravitates toward the neurotransmitter system, synaptic plasticity, glutamate surges, and the …

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Ketamine therapy and the primacy of mind in modern medicine

Physicians

The existential crisis of aging in medicine

We enter the cathedral of medicine with a specific architecture of the soul: high ambition, perfectionism fueled by a productive neuroticism, and a boundless capacity for self-sacrifice. For many of us, the "best years" (the physical and cognitive prime of…

We enter the cathedral of medicine with a specific architecture of the soul: high ambition, perfectionism fueled by a productive neuroticism, and a boundless capacity for self-sacrifice. For many of us, the “best years” (the physical and cognitive prime of our 20s and 30s) are traded for the fluorescent hum of the wards and the weight of six-figure debts. This financial burden does more than strain the bank account; it …

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The existential crisis of aging in medicine

Physicians

Iranian physicians in 2026: a testament to medical courage

The stethoscope has always been more than a tool for auscultation; it is a physical bond between two human beings that no government has the authority to sever. In early 2026, as the Iranian regime launched a brutal crackdown on…

The stethoscope has always been more than a tool for auscultation; it is a physical bond between two human beings that no government has the authority to sever. In early 2026, as the Iranian regime launched a brutal crackdown on its own citizens, we witnessed the most extreme test of this bond. When the state demanded that physicians become extensions of the secret police, our colleagues in Iran chose the …

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Iranian physicians in 2026: a testament to medical courage

Physicians

Avicenna’s influence on modern medicine: a physician’s reflection

In the modern-day world, a physician's daily routine is often a whirlwind of clinical data, digital notifications, and the latest diagnostic protocols. Yet, in the quiet moments between patients, I find myself returning to the teachings of a man who…

In the modern-day world, a physician’s daily routine is often a whirlwind of clinical data, digital notifications, and the latest diagnostic protocols. Yet, in the quiet moments between patients, I find myself returning to the teachings of a man who lived over a millennium ago: Ibn Sina, known to history as Avicenna.

While we often view the history of medicine as a linear climb from “darkness” to “enlightenment,” the Canon of …

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Avicenna’s influence on modern medicine: a physician’s reflection

Physicians

Compassion fatigue in medicine: Why the brain numbs trauma

In the sterile quiet of an exam room, a physician faces a patient recounting a history of profound trauma. To a layperson, the story is bone-chilling. To the seasoned clinician, it can occasionally and guiltily feel like data. We call…

In the sterile quiet of an exam room, a physician faces a patient recounting a history of profound trauma. To a layperson, the story is bone-chilling. To the seasoned clinician, it can occasionally and guiltily feel like data. We call it burnout or compassion fatigue, but biologically, it is something more fundamental. The human brain has a finite capacity for empathy.

Our neural circuitry evolved for small tribes, not for a …

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Compassion fatigue in medicine: Why the brain numbs trauma

Conditions

Why perfectionism in medicine leads to moral injury

In the hallowed halls of medical school, we are often screened for traits that make the "ideal doctor": high empathy, meticulous perfectionism, and a profound sense of duty. We are the fixers, the ones who find deep meaning in the…

In the hallowed halls of medical school, we are often screened for traits that make the “ideal doctor”: high empathy, meticulous perfectionism, and a profound sense of duty. We are the fixers, the ones who find deep meaning in the intersubjective space between healer and patient. Yet, there is a shadow side to this personality architecture that no one talks about, an underlying proclivity toward rejection sensitivity.

The very traits that …

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Why perfectionism in medicine leads to moral injury

Physicians

Physician neutrality: a beacon of ethics in a divided world

I watched with horror, grief, and tears in my eyes as the events of the last week unfolded. We witnessed a catastrophic massacre of Iranians seeking nothing more than the basic freedom to exist outside an oppressive system. As conflicts…

I watched with horror, grief, and tears in my eyes as the events of the last week unfolded. We witnessed a catastrophic massacre of Iranians seeking nothing more than the basic freedom to exist outside an oppressive system. As conflicts ignite in various corners of the world, it feels as though the fabric of our global society is tearing at the seams.

Yet, amidst the darkness, there was a silver lining: …

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Physician neutrality: a beacon of ethics in a divided world

Physicians

Coping with survivor guilt: wisdom from Saadi Shirazi and Viktor Frankl

When someone you love is in a different location and suffering while you are safe, a heavy silence begins to fill the room. This survivor guilt is one of the most difficult burdens to carry because it turns even the…

When someone you love is in a different location and suffering while you are safe, a heavy silence begins to fill the room. This survivor guilt is one of the most difficult burdens to carry because it turns even the smallest joys, a hot cup of tea, a peaceful morning, or a moment of laughter, into something that feels like a betrayal. The heart constantly asks: Why them and not …

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Coping with survivor guilt: wisdom from Saadi Shirazi and Viktor Frankl

Meds

Marijuana rescheduling: Why the medical community’s silence is dangerous

By presidential order, marijuana has been rescheduled from Schedule I to Schedule III. This is not a subtle bureaucratic shift. It is a historic decision with major medical, regulatory, and cultural implications. Yet, astonishingly, much of the medical community has…

By presidential order, marijuana has been rescheduled from Schedule I to Schedule III. This is not a subtle bureaucratic shift. It is a historic decision with major medical, regulatory, and cultural implications. Yet, astonishingly, much of the medical community has responded with near silence. There has been little serious discussion, no broad professional debate, and minimal effort to educate clinicians or the public about what this change does, and does …

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Marijuana rescheduling: Why the medical community’s silence is dangerous

Conditions

The healing power of physician presence in modern medicine

I remember a patient who sat silently, staring at the hospital ceiling. She had survived a sudden illness that left her body weak and her spirit shaken. No tests, medications, or procedures could touch the despair in her eyes. In…

I remember a patient who sat silently, staring at the hospital ceiling. She had survived a sudden illness that left her body weak and her spirit shaken. No tests, medications, or procedures could touch the despair in her eyes. In that moment, I realized something fundamental: The physician’s presence itself can be the most potent form of care.

Medicine, at its best, is more than diagnosis or intervention. It is an …

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The healing power of physician presence in modern medicine

Conditions

AI-assisted therapy: Why supervision makes the difference

Artificial intelligence in mental health has become an easy target. Headlines warn of hallucinating chatbots, reckless advice, and sensational claims that AI therapy is pushing vulnerable patients toward self-harm or suicide. The implication is clear: AI is dangerous, irresponsible, and…

Artificial intelligence in mental health has become an easy target. Headlines warn of hallucinating chatbots, reckless advice, and sensational claims that AI therapy is pushing vulnerable patients toward self-harm or suicide. The implication is clear: AI is dangerous, irresponsible, and incompatible with serious clinical care.

That conclusion is too simple and, in many cases, wrong.

The uncomfortable truth is that many patients are already receiving something far riskier than supervised AI therapy. …

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AI-assisted therapy: Why supervision makes the difference

Conditions

High-protein diet risks: Why more isn’t always better

Over the past decade, nutrition culture has increasingly revolved around a single macronutrient: protein. Popular media, fitness culture, and everyday health conversations often frame higher protein intake as a universal good, synonymous with strength, longevity, and metabolic health. In the…

Over the past decade, nutrition culture has increasingly revolved around a single macronutrient: protein. Popular media, fitness culture, and everyday health conversations often frame higher protein intake as a universal good, synonymous with strength, longevity, and metabolic health. In the process, many foods that once formed the foundation of balanced eating (whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and healthy fats) are quietly sidelined or dismissed.

Protein is essential. That point is not in …

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High-protein diet risks: Why more isn’t always better

Conditions

ADHD and cannabis use: Navigating the diagnostic challenge

As a psychiatrist, I increasingly meet patients who come in convinced they have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They arrive prepared: an online screening test, a list of symptoms (poor concentration, low motivation, distractibility) and often a quiet sense of relief at…

As a psychiatrist, I increasingly meet patients who come in convinced they have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They arrive prepared: an online screening test, a list of symptoms (poor concentration, low motivation, distractibility) and often a quiet sense of relief at finally having an explanation. Then I do what physicians are trained to do. I take a careful history. I review medications. I ask about sleep, mood, anxiety, substance use, and …

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ADHD and cannabis use: Navigating the diagnostic challenge

Conditions

Why epistemic trespassing in medicine is a dangerous trend

Somewhere over the last two decades, medicine began to drift into strange territory. Authority (once grounded in evidence, humility, and disciplined expertise) became diluted. Being loud, charismatic, or highly visible somehow became a substitute for scientific credibility. We've long had…

Somewhere over the last two decades, medicine began to drift into strange territory. Authority (once grounded in evidence, humility, and disciplined expertise) became diluted. Being loud, charismatic, or highly visible somehow became a substitute for scientific credibility.

We’ve long had celebrity doctors, but a new hybrid has emerged: Physicians who are not celebrities in the traditional sense, yet who speak with sweeping certainty far outside their field of training. A neurosurgeon …

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Why epistemic trespassing in medicine is a dangerous trend

Physicians

How neurodiversity in relationships shapes communication

One of the marks of a good physician is the ability to approach illness from two complementary angles. We bring scientific knowledge, training, and objectivity to understand what is happening in the body. But the work doesn't end there. What…

One of the marks of a good physician is the ability to approach illness from two complementary angles. We bring scientific knowledge, training, and objectivity to understand what is happening in the body. But the work doesn’t end there. What truly elevates a clinician is the willingness to honor how the patient experiences their illness, the internal narrative that no lab test can measure.

This dual lens is not unique to …

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How neurodiversity in relationships shapes communication

Physicians

Why sustainable habit change requires more than willpower

Pick up a bestselling nonfiction book today and you'll see confident claims about habit change, dopamine detoxes, and rewiring the "default mode network." These ideas now circulate in podcasts, blogs, and social media as if the brain were an appliance…

Pick up a bestselling nonfiction book today and you’ll see confident claims about habit change, dopamine detoxes, and rewiring the “default mode network.” These ideas now circulate in podcasts, blogs, and social media as if the brain were an appliance that simply needs the right setting. But in real life, human behavior is not so easily reconfigured.

What I’ve observed is that habits, motivations, and compulsive patterns are shaped not only …

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Why sustainable habit change requires more than willpower

Physicians

Why addiction is no longer just a clinical category

Addiction is no longer a clinical category. It has become the cultural baseline. We used to think of addiction as something that happened to a few vulnerable people who "couldn't handle" life's pressures. Now it's woven into everyday existence. Most…

Addiction is no longer a clinical category. It has become the cultural baseline.

We used to think of addiction as something that happened to a few vulnerable people who “couldn’t handle” life’s pressures. Now it’s woven into everyday existence. Most of us reach for our phones before we reach for a breath. We chase stimulation without noticing we’re chasing. We live in a world that subtly trains us to crave.

Somewhere along …

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Why addiction is no longer just a clinical category

Conditions

Why mindfulness fails to cure existential anxiety

For the past several decades, Western spiritual culture has been profoundly shaped by the rebranding of Buddhist contemplative practices (mindfulness, presence, and the exaltation of "the now"). As a psychiatrist, I have witnessed the arrival of this movement inside the…

For the past several decades, Western spiritual culture has been profoundly shaped by the rebranding of Buddhist contemplative practices (mindfulness, presence, and the exaltation of “the now”). As a psychiatrist, I have witnessed the arrival of this movement inside the consultation room. Patients arrive quoting teachers, apps, and books urging them to stay present, to watch their breath, to release attachment to the future or past. Many have tried, often …

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Why mindfulness fails to cure existential anxiety

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