Every week, I see a teen with depression and/or anxiety. Sometimes that teen is mine.
And while I can certainly opine over the lack of mental health resources for our children and teens — you have to be a certain age, you have to have certain insurances, if you’re uninsured or underinsured, you can see a community health professional but only for eight sessions — what I really get frustrated with …
Whether you like her or not, Meghan is speaking openly about suicide. For that, I am thankful.
In her interview with Oprah, The Duchess of Sussex shared her suicidal thoughts—and how she was obstructed from mental health care, told to “tough it out” and keep smiling. The Duchess needed a doctor. Yet doctors are reported to have the Read more…
Three years ago, I met Dr. Boyce Fish*, the ER physician revived after suicide. I also met Rachel Dawson, wife of Dr. Chris Dawson who killed himself and his two children.
We all sat in red ballroom chairs in a room with nothing in it, but it felt full. All the lights were dim, and I was privy to the darkest innermost thoughts …
An excerpt from I’m So Effing Tired: A Proven Plan to Beat Burnout, Boost Your Energy, and Reclaim Your Life.
Did you know that a recent Harris Poll survey revealed that while about the same percentage of women and men reported feeling burned out in their work life, 35 percent of women told the Harris Poll they felt burned …
Long ago, in the BC (before COVID) era, I would chat up a local in a foreign country. Their usual response upon learning I was from the U.S. would be to seek clarification on aspects of American culture found most peculiar. There were your usual suspects — the Electoral College, imperial versus metric systems, and why we’re obsessed with the Kardashians — but the most common question was about our …
“Julie” began the telehealth encounter in her car, greeting me with a cheerful smile. The sun glimmered through the driver-side window, illuminating the water spots to sparkle like diamonds.
“How are you doing with your suboxone dose? Do you feel that you need to go up, or are you happy with your current dose?” I asked.
“Everything is going great,” she said. “I feel no cravings – only some constipation. Otherwise, everything …
Loss is incurable, but grief is metamorphic. The end of another human life is a fluid experience for those left behind. For most of us, grief legitimizes the range of human emotion and, at least temporarily, erases the idea of being too sensitive.
There are many ways in which this paradigm is unequal, particularly for individuals who frequently confront death. It seems that when a challenge moves into the …
As doctors, we are taught the art of assessing our patients through the doctor-patient relationship. We learn a series of open-ended questions to gain insight into our patients’ values and thoughts regarding their personal health. We learn how to evaluate lab values and make diagnoses. Through all of this, we strive to make optimal decisions for our patients to avoid the legal ramifications of medical errors and because physicians thrive …
In the mid-1990s, a few pharmaceutical companies made broad claims regarding the safety and efficacy of opioid medications for pain management. These claims were based on limited research that did not fully account for these drugs’ potentially harmful effects. As a result, we are now facing an opioid epidemic across the United States.
Now, New Jersey joined several other states by legalizing marijuana for recreational use. While there are clear differences …
COVID-19 has shed light on a pre-existing condition in medicine – our health care system has failed to tend to its workforce’s well-being. While generally privileged, physicians are an underserved population about their own mental health care.
Numerous articles and countless interviews have focused on the pandemic’s deleterious impact on physicians’ mental health and well-being. But this is not a new problem, nor is it caused by a lack of resilience. …
It was September 11, 2001. My dad had cheated on my mom again, the building that I worked in at that time had received an anonymous tip that we were a potential target for the terrorist attacks, and my mom, who needed a reprieve from my dad’s crap, was vacationing in Florida and was worried for me and my well-being. Plus, my dad was threatening to kill himself, and I …
I write this now as both a time capsule and a vision of hope at the bitter end of 2020. At this point, a COVID-19 vaccine (the vision of hope) has been developed by several companies but has not yet received widespread distribution. Realistically, I know we are in for more quarantines, social distancing, and mask-wearing for at least another 9 to 12 months (sorry!).
My clinical work in psychiatry has …
“I no longer start every day in dread,” Sheila (not her real name) told me as we completed a six-month coaching engagement. Her statement initially surprised me because that’s not how she described her interest in coaching when we began. She had simply and unemotionally told me that she needed a career change and didn’t want to jump into another not-quite-right situation. But as I recalled the time we spent …
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An excerpt from Medical Myths: A Sceptic’s Journey.
The German Baron Karl Friedrich Von Munchausen (1720-1797) was famous for his tall tales. Returning from the war, he described himself riding on a cannonball and even reaching the moon. Stories were compiled …
Doctors are often called “heroes” – a surprisingly uncomfortable label. Physicians are already tired of being held to a higher standard than the average person; raising the pedestal is problematic. While doctors are compassionate individuals who care about bettering lives and curing illnesses, we are also human. At the end of a standard workday, we would like to live normal lives. Unfortunately, the hours are longer, and we are never …
“Aunty blew her brains out a few weeks ago!”
Words I shall never forget.
For weeks, she had been in my thoughts. But I never called her. I didn’t because of all the myriad reasons we often give ourselves for not checking up on each other.
In my case, they sounded like this; “I am 7 months pregnant, and it has been a difficult pregnancy.” “I am in an abusive marriage.” “My pediatric …
I am a psychiatrist. My field has been marred with human rights violations and treatments that though well-meaning, did not yield the results that were intended. I have always been at the watch and helm of speaking out when I see gaps and places where my colleagues and I are called to do better. I have been treating patients for over 15 years now. I have remained silent …
We’ve never met, but I’ll bet you could use some encouragement right about now. This has been a tough year. Maybe for you, like me, depression feels like an old song that keeps getting played and stuck in your head over and over through the years. Or maybe this is the first time you’re experiencing the weight of it in your body, the diminishing physical and emotional energy, the infuriating …
Taking a break from technology is a fine idea, but we don’t need a pseudoscientific new name for it: dopamine fasting. Launched with viral Silicon Valley memes, online reports, and articles in the New York Times and elsewhere, dopamine fasting is now a thing. Basically, the idea is to temporarily deprive oneself of the usual stimulations of life — largely …
“How long have you been married?”
The question came from a young woman kneeling down by the elevator in the hotel where my wife and I were staying while in Seattle. We were there to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary with an Alaskan cruise. I hadn’t even noticed her as my wife and I were busy talking about the day. She appeared to be in her twenties. Her appearance was that of …
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