Category: Conditions

COVID-19 isolation doesn’t have to lead to overeating

If you’ve felt an uptick in urges to munch and crunch your way through the day since COVID-19 has revamped our lives, you’re not alone. It’s hard enough not to fall prey to emotional and mindless eating in the best of times. Enduring skyrocketing stres…

Do masks promote a false sense of security?

With the CDC reversing their guidelines and now recommending that the general public wear masks, many states are quickly requiring them. While wearing a mask is something tangible that people can do to feel safe and makes for a nice post on Instagram, …

Who will care for the caregivers?

Coronavirus is not going away anytime soon. Health care workers are already exhausted. How will the U.S. maintain a medical workforce over the long term?  There is no plan in place. Hospitals started reorganizing and developing virus infection protocol…

Eliminating religious exemptions from school vaccination in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic

Coronavirus has essentially altered life for the foreseeable future, and it’s clear to experts this public health crisis will only be defeated with development and implementation of a vaccine.  While Coronavirus has shown us what life is can be without…

The parallels between basketball and pandemic medicine

Michael Jordan. Kobe Bryant. Yao Ming. These are the biggest names in the basketball world, and all three were my superheroes growing up. Even though I’d never had the chance to meet them, to see how they carried themselves on and off the court-i…

8 reasons why people ignore and defy COVID-19 safeguards

If you’re amazed that people are still shaking hands, waltzing around mask-free in public, and rushing off to hair salons and beaches in some states, learn to think like a therapist. Understanding the underlying motivations of people who ignore and def…

The unsettling result of a negative coronavirus test

As a psychologist, I have long been aware of some of the emotional impacts that illnesses like COVID-19 can have on individuals and families. I never imagined that I would experience some of these impacts directly. Furthermore, I never could have guess…

The unspoken death toll of COVID-19: suicide

Today I woke up to the news that a fellow physician died by suicide. As I read the article, I felt a sharp pain in my chest. My eyes watered. They still do, as I write this piece. Although I did not personally know Dr. Lorna M. Breen, an ER doctor in N…

The new meaning of the phrase, “going viral”

The phrase “going viral” will probably never evoke the same benign meaning or be used in such an innocent fashion as it was prior to January 2020.  One might attribute its evolution into popular vernacular to Richard Dawkins, who coined the word “meme”…

Lockdown panic syndrome, and how to fix it

The worldwide pandemic over COVID-19, and the heavy-handed government response to it, has generated a wide range of reaction among patients. As a family physician and a psychiatrist, we have seen some patients adapting well. On the other hand, many fee…