I was looking forward to March 2020. My boyfriend and I had a long-awaited vacation to Aruba we were looking forward to. Everything is packed, plans are finalized, and the world shuts down three days before our trip. Frustrated, we refuse to believe th…
You’ve heard of the emotional impact of menopause on women, but did you know that it can also cause anxiety and depression? Mental health is a topic that many people don’t want to discuss due to concerns of stigma, fear, and perceived reper…
There is a connection between mental health and what we eat. Food can be a surrogate for our emotional needs. We could say that you are what you eat, but the truth is more complicated than that. Our food habits often mirror how we’re doing emotio…
Back in medical school, during a first-year retreat, our whole class did the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) psychometric test, supposedly to help us learn what field of medicine might be the best fit for our unique combination of characteristics. I…
My role as a care coordinator for a local mobile health clinic — the mobile outreach clinic (MOC) — comes with responsibilities seldomly awarded to an undergraduate, 20-year old, volunteer student. MOC is unique in that it not only provides free, low-b…
The first thing someone says when I tell them I have bipolar, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder is, “I’m sorry.” For a long time, I was sorry too. Bipolar runs in my family, so I knew the harsh realities of this untreated ill…
She was listless in bed with agonal breathing — only 63 years old. Before stage 4 colon cancer claimed my mother, she chose to come home to her house … her bedroom, where she’d stare out her window at the dogwood trees that symbolized the blood o…
Any social media platform can boast an abundance of practical health and weight loss recommendations, whether scientifically accurate or not. Many professional athletes and companies are eager to sell their plans for a premium price and advertise them …
June is Men’s Health Month, and this year, as we emerge from the COVID-19 epidemic, more than ever, there is a compelling need to focus on male patients’ overall health, emphasizing their mental health as a key to their wellbeing. Mental health is a si…
I obtained a master of arts degree in clinical psychology 20 years after receiving my medical degree. One of the first things one learns as a psych student is to “hold the client in unconditional positive regard.” This was a new concept for me as this …
