Holly MacKenna is an integrative psychiatrist.
In psychiatry, we are trained to prepare our patients for the end of treatment. Treatment planning focuses on goals and strategies to help the person eventually end their need for therapy and external interventions. Interestingly, even with this anticipation of ending our relationship as part of the focus, it is not unusual for patients to disappear.
Ghosting doctors and treatment personnel is sadly commonplace in the mental health space. I have …
“Holly, we’re really worried about you. You’ve been sleeping for days. Let us take you to the school clinic.”
I looked up at a figure in the bedroom door surrounded by a light that hurt my eyes. It was my college roommate, a sweet girl from North Carolina who had put up with my shit for most of our senior year. I wanted to bounce up and smile, to jump into …
My days start differently now than they did a year ago. I arrive in my private practice office and take a seat on a meditation cushion as the sun breaks through the curtains. New Orleans streetcars can be heard passing by outside, splintering the stillness of the morning. I grab my phone, turn on Clubhouse, and join my friends and fellow healers in meditating to sounds transmitted by a Chinese …
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