For two years, I served as a representative to my medical school’s student affairs committee. My job was to convey medical student concerns and problems. As part of that role, I had a lot of time to think about how and why many medical students experience depression and stress. Two recent articles have led me to write about the issue now: “10 simple solutions to stop medical student suicide,” …
Medical school graduation: Time to celebrate our brand new doctors!
Except for the families who can’t celebrate their child’s graduation. Or their child’s marriage. Or their child’s birthday — ever again.
Like Michele and John Dietl.
They lost their son, Kevin (pictured above), just weeks before graduation. Now they cling to online condolences and family photos. And to the never-ending question: Why?
This summer’s Disney-Pixar movie Inside Out makes us think about our thinking. But, I wonder, first of all, “Can we even think about our thoughts?”
In fact, over the summer with campers at Lausanne Collegiate School, beginning with junior kindergarten to grade 7, I was teaching them how to observe their thoughts: a course in mindfulness and meditation for children.
I attend pharmaceutical dinners every once in awhile because: 1) I like to stay up to date with all the new drugs (or just a slightly modified version of the generic, but with a much fancier name and packaging); 2) Though I’m several years out of medical school/residency, one thing I have maintained from those formative years is the mentality where I’d never pass …
Well, decision time was here and it looked as if Bill would choose surgery, and why not, with the doctors liberally throwing around the word “cure.'” The various tests Bill endured, breathing tests, echocardiogram and MRI of the brain, were all within tolerable ranges, we were told. The oncologist noted some marks in the brain that suggested mini-strokes, but Bill didn’t hear this or it didn’t register with him, or …
Chronic insomnia affects 5 percent to 15 percent of Americans. It is far from only a nighttime problem. As all of us know from occasional sleepless nights, the following day is unproductive and sometimes dangerous. Sleep deprived people are more prone to accidents, and are more likely to have depression, anxiety, diabetes and high blood pressure.
I noticed that my writing and conversations with others convey far less emotion than usual. My reserve for tolerating stress had reached maximum capacity, which I realized upon my first day back at work from vacation three weeks ago as exhaustion immediately erased any sense of relaxation from my trip. Perhaps I should have requested two weeks off instead of one? Either way, …
Being related to a famous person is somewhere between a cruel joke and a minor distraction. My father was immensely talented and worked very hard at his writing, but the degree of his success was a fantastically unlikely bit of luck. There are lots of talented, hard-working artists who don’t make it.
The important thing in overcoming mental illness, whether or not …
I am often struck that those I work with who have enormous reasons to be depressed — they may be poor, physically ill, uneducated, and very crazy — are not depressed, not at least as I describe depression, a state of melancholy and dejection. In my view, there is a terrible, terrible hopelessness in these situations and in these lives. And then, there is William Jenkins.
Kaitlyn Elkins was a medical student at the Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina and a member of the class of 2015. She excelled academically, named the valedictorian of her high school class and graduating summa cum laude from Campbell University. She wrote poetry in her free time. She had a cat, lovingly named Gatito. On April 11, 2013, just …
After four years working as a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Brooklyn treating the underserved, I decided it was time to dedicate myself fully to my growing private practice.
Functioning solely as an out of network provider in private practice, as expected, my clientele grossly changed. Unlike my hospital patients, a majority of my patients are upper class to wealthy. Finances are not concerns or stressors.
A disclaimer before I even get started on this post.
Some of you who know me or work with me will think that by writing this post I am talking about you or even attacking you. I am not. If you’re especially sensitive, don’t read any further.
I am simply writing something that has been kicking around in my head for a long …
I recently completed the buprenorphine waiver training. Buprenorphine, itself a partial opiate, is a medication that can be prescribed to patients who have opiate use disorders (e.g., taking Oxycontins or injecting heroin to get high). A physician must complete an eight-hour training and take an exam to become eligible to prescribe this medication. The physician must then apply for a specific “X license” through the DEA to prescribe it.
Recently there has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), and its board certification requirements. Currently, the board require physicians to take an exam and recertify every ten years in a process termed MOC, or maintenance of certification. The process is time-consuming and costly, and many physicians claim it does not improve their day-to-day practice. Doctors have become more vocal in their grievances …
Every year roughly 400 physicians take their lives: a group of physicians greater than the size of two graduating classes at my medical school. Let’s be clear, physician suicide and medical professional mental health awareness is a neglected issue in medicine. We are twice as likely to commit suicide than our non-physician counterparts. Women physicians are up to three times …
I’ve been invited to speak to a group of attorneys who work at the interface of psychiatry and the law. The topic of my talk? “Psychiatry 101.”
A psychiatrist who gave this talk to a similar group a few years ago advised me: “You should assume that lawyers are laymen. It’s surprising how little they know, given the work that they do.”
This teaching opportunity to teach has given me pause: What is mental …
An investigation is underway after a Chicago-area doctor is found dead — a suicide according to the medical examiner. What demands investigation is the callousness with which the this doctor’s death was reported by the media — and received by neighbors, many health care professionals themselves.
I’m alerted to the death initially by a Facebook friend: “Pamela, check this out!” Headline: Read more…
As someone involved in both the medical and acting world, I was tremendously saddened to read about Dr. Fredric Brandt’s recent suicide, which is presumed to be in response to an impersonation of him on the Netflix’s series, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Project Casting, a website offering free casting calls and auditions, posted a link on their website asking, “Did Netflix go too far” and I was shocked by people’s …
A pilot deliberately flying a plane full of passengers into a mountain is horrific, unbelievably sad, and, thankfully, very rare.
But suicide is far from rare. Tragically, those usually lonely acts of despair are rising. But can they be prevented?
Someone in this country dies by suicide every 12.8 minutes. The national suicide rate has increased to 12.6 suicide deaths per 100,000 and for ages 18 to 35 — the prime of one’s life — …
Many people know what it feels like to be depressed. It’s hard to go through life without at some point experiencing that helpless/hopeless feeling. Some people, however, stay stuck in this painful state. In my family therapy practice, I frequently get calls from people seeking help for depression. Sometimes their depression is self-diagnosed, reflecting their experience of ongoing distress. Other times they’ve been referred by their family doctor. It’s common …
