Psychiatry

Stressed and sad as a medical intern? You’re not alone

Physician

April 14, 2017

A few weeks after I started residency, two of my peers killed themselves in New York City. No one I knew was surprised.

Intern year is hell, and everybody knows it from TV shows like “Scrubs” and books like “House of God.” Old doctors tell tall tales of working a million hours without sleep before training standards got “soft,” limiting residents’ monthly work hours to 320 and requiring four days off. …

The suicide rate is increasing. Why is that?

Christopher Johnson, MD

Conditions

April 11, 2017

Those of us who work in pediatric intensive care have frequent encounters with the problem of suicide and attempted suicide. It has seemed to me for some years that the numbers are increasing, and this has been shown to be the case. After years of declining, the suicide rate in our country has been increasing, now at about 125 percent of the rate of several decades …

Can physicians be introverts? A introverted physician speaks her mind.

Aparna Iyer, MD

Physician

April 6, 2017

I’ve known since I was very young that I just experienced life differently than did my extroverted family members and friends. During parties, they seemed to truly enjoy the loudness and chaos of get togethers and the seemingly endless small talk, while I would secretly yearn to return home so that I could read my latest novel in peace. An older family member once told me that I would eventually …

The answer to depression isn’t always an antidepressant

Marie Casey Olseth, MD

Conditions

March 18, 2017

Many patients are referred to me as a psychiatrist to treat their depression. The new patients that come to me for depressive symptoms usually expect that I will be recommending and prescribing an antidepressant for their depressive symptoms because that is what a psychiatrist does, right? Not always.

Often times these patients come to me having gone through several antidepressant trials without any successful resolution of their depressive symptoms. Well, sometimes …

Misophonia and suicide: Sound thinking is required

Jennifer Jo Brout, PsyD and Barron H. Lerner, MD, PhD

Conditions

January 26, 2017

If you Google “misophonia” you might be shocked to find numerous articles discussing the tragic suicide of 52-year-old Russian-born scholar, Dr. Michelle Lamarche Marrese. Journalist Joyce Cohen was the first to report Marrese’s suicide in the New York Post piece “She could hear everything and it cost her her life.” Cohen explains that she and Marrese had been corresponding about Marrese’s struggles with misophonia for over 14 months, and that …

There is something rotten inside the medical profession

Anonymous

Physician

January 26, 2017

In the year it has taken for me to finish my medical residency as a junior doctor, two of my colleagues have killed themselves. I’ve read articles that refer to suicide amongst doctors as the profession’s “grubby little secret,” but I’d rather call it exactly how it is: the profession’s shameful and disgusting open secret.

Medical training has long had its culture rooted in ideals of suffering. Not so much for …

Why America fails at psychiatric care

Janice Boughton, MD

Physician

January 19, 2017

An article released in the JAMA sites evidence that the suicide rate in America has risen by 24 percent in the last 15 years associated with a significant reduction in the numbers of psychiatric beds available. The U.S. has had a lower capacity for psychiatric patients than comparable countries in Europe for years, but between 1998 and 2013 that number dropped even further.

Waiting in the ER for days

This …

Read more…

Why America fails at psychiatric care

The psychiatry rotation terrifies this medical student. Here’s why.

Anonymous

Education

January 14, 2017

Most third medical students look forward to their psychiatry block. After twelve plus hour days and six day weeks on internal medicine, OB/GYN and surgery, the reasonable hours on psychiatry seems like a dream. While my classmates viewed psychiatry as a break, I dreaded it. This was not my first time on an inpatient psychiatry ward.

My world and fate forever changed when I was twelve years old. Sometimes depression is …

The one lesson I learned working in a psych unit

Anonymous

Education

January 11, 2017

I was incredibly nervous going into my first day in the inpatient child/adolescent psychiatry unit. “Was this where the truly psychotic kids are? Am I going to be safe here?” I wondered as I casually introduced myself to the staff on the floor. After a morning of sitting in on group therapy led by psychologists and occupational therapists, I calmed down. Against the backdrop of the soothing soft pastel colors, …

Warning: Medical school may kill your child

Pamela Wible, MD

Physician

November 23, 2016

seanpetrosuicide-900x600

Cheryl lost her son Sean to suicide in medical school. Just a few months ago. Her only child. Cheryl didn’t know that medical students were at high risk of suicide — until her son was dead. Nobody warned her.

Rhonda lost her daughter Kaitlyn to suicide in medical school. Unable to recuperate from the pain of her daughter’s suicide, Rhonda died by suicide …

11 things your psychiatrist wants you to know

Kristen Compton, MD

Physician

October 21, 2016

There are a lot of misconceptions about psychiatrists and the way we practice, mainly because our sphere of medicine is so vastly different from that of any other medical specialty (and yes, I have an MD!) Here are a few thoughts I hope will help you understand us and our field a little better.

1. Yes, we all have clocks in our offices. We watch the time to pace ourselves, not …

When should doctors see a therapist?

Kelly Smyth-Dent, MSW

Physician

October 7, 2016

Waiting to get help to improve your life and relationship is like waiting for the cancer to spread. You feel a lump on your body. Do you wait a few months to see if it gets bigger? Do you make an appointment right away? Do you avoid making an appointment altogether and hope it just goes away on its own?

Many times, we wait until after the divorce, after the accident, …

Read more…

When should doctors see a therapist?

To the doctors struggling with depression: You are not alone

Elisabeth Poorman, MD

Physician

August 30, 2016

By the end of my first year of residency, I knew I was in trouble.

I was overwhelmed by the 15-hour days, the unbearable sadness of the tragedies I witnessed, my feelings of impotence and my fears of making a mistake.

My life was my work, and everything else seemed to be falling apart: my physical health, my relationships, my ability to sleep after months of night shifts.

Yet, I came to work …

Hospital fires doctor for having cancer

Pamela Wible, MD & Stephanie Waggel, MD

Physician

August 15, 2016

StephanieFired

Dear Pamela,

You’ll never guess what happened to me today. Hours after the National Day of Solidarity to Prevent Physician Suicide volunteer web page went live, I received an email stating that I am officially terminated from my psychiatry residency program.

On this web page, I spoke about the fact that I had become interested in this event during my …

Read more…

Hospital fires doctor for having cancer

What a medical student learned during his psychiatry rotation

Michael Nguyen

Education

July 10, 2016

Psychiatry was my first clinical rotation, and I did not know what to expect when I began. When I initially got assigned to the dialectal behavioral therapy (DBT) team, I had no clue what that would entail beyond working with some borderline patients and that the preconception of borderline patients is that they can be “the most difficult” patients to help due to their intense emotional instability, chronic feelings of …

How can patients accept cash-based practices?

Steven Reidbord, MD

Physician

June 22, 2016

A primary care physician named Ashley Maltz recently discussed advantages and disadvantages of a cash-based practice. I appreciate her evenhanded tone: She prefers this model yet expressed concern for patients who can’t use it. In the comments section, several physicians extolled the virtues of cash-pay, but patients were mixed. It’s attractive for those who can afford it, while it worries, and maybe angers, those who can’t.

I enjoy the personal and patient benefits of a mostly cash-pay psychiatric practice (I …

What I learned after 41 years of practicing psychiatry

Bruce Hershfield, MD

Physician

May 22, 2016

Now that I’m getting ready to turn 70, I thought I’d summarize what I’ve learned since I finished my residency, when I was 28. Of course, I didn’t learn all this only by being a psychiatrist, since I would hope that most folks have also learned lots in the last 41 years.

1. Psychotherapy is important, particularly if the patient is on the right medication. I won’t do “med checks,” since I …

My double life: Mental illness in the health care

Kristen Beatty

Conditions

May 6, 2016

I was 13 years old when I first had thoughts related to suicide. While my thoughts never really included calculated ways of ending my life, I remember such a profoundly overwhelming desire to be anesthetized to all of my emotions and worries. In the medical field, that kind of thinking is classified under the label of “suicidal ideation,” which is often accompanied by other diagnoses of mental illness. I have …

Every physician is a wounded healer

Chris Cantilena, MD, MMM

Physician

April 24, 2016

I recall during my freshman year in medical school, sitting in class and listening to what were supposed to be 50-minute lectures from people who’d been teaching the same course for years. These were highly educated and intelligent folks; they knew how much material they could cover in 50 minutes. Yet, they frequently went past their time; encroaching on what was for some a badly needed bathroom break, and for …

Read more…

Every physician is a wounded healer

Medical school has killed my soul. What can I do?

Pamela Wible, MD

Education

March 30, 2016

DearPamela-900x607

Hi Pamela,

I’m a medical student in the UK. Though I’ve only been in med school since September, it has already taken its toll on me. Before I started, I was so in touch with my emotions, spirituality, and nature. Now I feel so empty and desensitized. I hate that when faced with the horrible circumstances of another person, I just don’t feel …

Psychiatry

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts