Psychiatry

The many faces of physician grief

Conditions

September 5, 2025

Grief is not a word most physicians would use to describe their day-to-day work. Stress? Absolutely. Burnout? Sadly too common. Exhaustion? Without question. But grief? That feels too tender, too vulnerable, too personal, too scary.

And yet, grief quietly saturates the practice of medicine and the existence of being a doctor.

Grief shows up most obviously in the loss of patients. Death coming sometimes suddenly, and sometimes after a long, protracted …

Read more…

The many faces of physician grief

Imposter syndrome is not a personal failing

Jessie Mahoney, MD

Physician

September 5, 2025

Imposter syndrome is not a personal failing. It is a conditioned mindset. A learned pattern. We are raised in a culture of hyper vigilance. We are taught to equate uncertainty with inadequacy. We are taught it is not OK not to know an answer. That being unsure is a failing.

We prepare relentlessly. We never let our guard down. Hypervigilance is our standard mode of operating. Self-judgment is an internal soundtrack. …

A psychiatrist’s 20-year journey with ketamine

Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD

Meds

September 4, 2025

The day I first watched ketamine lift a human being out of despair, I was standing in a quiet room at the National Institute of Mental Health. The fluorescent lights hummed, the monitor ticked, and a young adult who had been drowning for months came up for air. Hours, not weeks. That speed rewired me as much as it rewired their brain. In the early 2000s, most of us were …

Exploring the science behind burnout [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

September 1, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Physician Jessie Mahoney discusses her article “Ending burnout through structure, not gimmicks,” making the case that the most effective remedies for physician burnout are systemic changes—reasonable patient loads, thoughtful schedules, supportive leadership, …

How Filipino cultural values shape silence around mental health

Victor Fu and Charmaigne Lopez

Education

August 31, 2025

Filipino Americans are one of the fastest-growing and most diverse Asian American subgroups in the U.S.—yet they remain one of the most misunderstood, especially when it comes to mental health. Whether due to the myth of the “model minority” or the aggregation of Asian health data that obscures subgroup differences, Filipino Americans face a growing but overlooked mental health crisis.

Despite strong cultural values rooted in resilience, family, and faith, Filipino …

Reframing self-care as required maintenance for physicians [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

August 28, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Board-certified pediatrician and certified coach Jessie Mahoney discusses her article, “Why self-care must become medicine’s new standard.” She challenges the long-held belief in medical culture that self-sacrifice is noble and that self-care …

Who are you outside of the white coat?

Annia Raja, PhD

Conditions

August 26, 2025

It is a question that has stopped more than a few of my physician clients in their tracks: Who are you outside of the white coat?

I do not mean your hobbies, though yes, of course those matter. I mean your identity. Your core sense of self when you strip away the pager, the patient lists, the provider ID, and even the deeply ingrained instincts to care, to fix, to achieve. …

Read more…

Who are you outside of the white coat?

How peer support can save physician lives [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

August 25, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Anesthesiologist and clinical mental health counselor Maire Daugharty discusses her article, “Why peer support can save lives in high-pressure medical careers.” Drawing from her personal experience of losing three colleagues to suicide …

How a doctor defied a hurricane to save a life

Dharam Persaud-Sharma, MD, PhD

Physician

August 24, 2025

It begins with thunder. Not just the kind that splits the sky, but the kind that settles into the chest — low, rolling, remembered. It’s been years since the hurricane, but each crack of lightning still pulls my body into defense. I never used to be afraid of storms. Now, my body remembers before my mind does.

That night, I was post-call. Exhausted, planning to ride out the storm the way …

Focusing on well-being versus wellness: What it means for physicians (and their patients)

Kim Downey, PT & Nikolai Blinow & Tonya Caylor, MD

Physician

August 23, 2025

Words matter.

In a recent conversation with a physical therapist friend who lives with chronic illness, she shared that the term “wellness” doesn’t resonate with her—it feels like an impossible state to attain. She prefers “well-being,” explaining that it more accurately reflects how she feels and functions in daily life.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve spoken and written about physician wellness and well-being, often using the terms interchangeably. But that …

Why the future of cancer prevention starts from within

Raphael E. Cuomo, PhD

Conditions

August 22, 2025

An excerpt from Crave: The Hidden Biology of Addiction and Cancer.

Prevention, as commonly understood, has struggled to match the evolving reality of cancer. The traditional model rests on two main ideas: Reducing exposure to known carcinogens and detecting abnormalities as early as possible. Avoid tobacco, wear sunscreen, and get screened. These recommendations remain useful, yet they are incomplete. They overlook the terrain in which disease develops. They address threats …

A systemic plan for health worker well-being [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

August 20, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation co-founder Corey Feist and physician advocate Kim Downey discuss their article, “Health workers deserve care too: How to protect their mental health.” They highlight the ongoing mental …

Why physicians need a place to fall apart

Annia Raja, PhD

Physician

August 20, 2025

Physicians are masters at holding it together.

You walk into a patient’s room, and no matter how little sleep you have gotten, how chaotic the last shift was, or how much is weighing on you personally, you put on the calm, capable, competent face that patients and colleagues expect. That ability to compartmentalize (to suppress your own emotions so you can stay functional) is often what gets you through residency, twenty-four-hour …

An addiction physician’s warning about America’s next public health crisis [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

August 19, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Addiction medicine physician Safina Adatia discusses her article, “Why gambling addiction is America’s next health crisis.” She warns that following the Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling to overturn sports gambling bans, the U.S. …

Why real medicine is more than quick labels

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

August 16, 2025

An excerpt from Real Medicine, Unreal Stories, Volume 3.

The café was quiet, tucked between a shuttered bookstore and a yoga studio that only seemed to open during Mercury retrograde. It was the kind of place that didn’t advertise, which made it perfect for writers, wanderers, and today, two physicians who had long since discovered that stories, not stethoscopes, were the truest diagnostic tools.

Dr. Gary Handler stirred his coffee absentmindedly, …

Stop medicalizing burnout and start healing the culture [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

August 15, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Board-certified pediatrician and certified coach Jessie Mahoney discusses her article, “Medicalizing burnout misses the real problem.” She argues that the health care industry’s current approach to physician burnout is failing because it …

Why physicians with ADHD are burning out

Michael Carlini

Conditions

August 13, 2025

It is time we talk about a critical, yet often overlooked, factor contributing to physician burnout: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), particularly in those with high IQs and a history of academic and professional success.

Many physicians, often driven and intellectually gifted, develop sophisticated coping mechanisms that mask their ADHD symptoms for years, even decades. Their high IQ can, paradoxically, compensate for executive function deficits, allowing them to excel in demanding environments like …

Why more physicians are quietly starting therapy

Annia Raja, PhD

Conditions

August 13, 2025

It is happening more often than most people realize. The same physicians who seem unshakable in the OR or clinic, the ones who handle chaos without blinking, are quietly scheduling therapy appointments. Not because they have “hit rock bottom” or cannot do their jobs anymore, but because they are realizing they do not have to slowly carry it all alone. Nor can they sustain this level of burnout anymore.

As a …

How to lead from the heart in a system that rewards the intellect [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

August 10, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Pediatrician and certified coach Jessie Mahoney discusses her article, “Why the future of medicine depends on leading from the heart.” Drawing from her experience leading a workshop for women cardiologists, she explores …

Ending burnout through structure, not gimmicks

Jessie Mahoney, MD

Physician

August 10, 2025

The truth is not hiding. We have known for decades what allows physicians to thrive and what erodes their well-being. The science has been published, the interventions described, and the solutions tested. What we face is not a crisis of knowledge; it is a crisis of action.

I was reminded of this recently when an emergency physician preparing a talk on wellness asked me for help. She wanted to share with …