Category: Conditions

When high achievers and isolated adults share a common enemy: social anxiety

Karen, age 46, mother of two, is a world-renowned physician who has headed numerous clinical trials and has saved many lives. She suffered from public speaking anxiety disorder. Mike, age 26, a college graduate, spends most of his life in his room. He …

When high achievers and isolated adults share a common enemy: social anxiety

Karen, age 46, mother of two, is a world-renowned physician who has headed numerous clinical trials and has saved many lives. She suffered from public speaking anxiety disorder. Mike, age 26, a college graduate, spends most of his life in his room. He …

When high achievers and isolated adults share a common enemy: social anxiety

Karen, age 46, mother of two, is a world-renowned physician who has headed numerous clinical trials and has saved many lives. She suffered from public speaking anxiety disorder. Mike, age 26, a college graduate, spends most of his life in his room. He …

Why physicians need to become more educated about alternative pain treatments

All indications are that pain care in the United States is in crisis. There is an epidemic of prescription opioid-fueled opioid addiction and overdoses (over a million dead and millions more addicted) as well as an epidemic of chronic pain. Estimates o…

A terminal disease intercepted by modern medicine

I have been a physician for over forty years, with an office practice and providing geriatric house calls in our community. Now, I am also a caregiver. My partner, Robin, was diagnosed with a rare malignancy in November 2022, known as anaplastic thyroi…

Living with type 1 diabetes: my journey through misconceptions, stigma and resilience

I was only a child when my life took a sharp turn. At around five or six years old, I started noticing odd changes in my body that I didn’t understand. The day I landed in the hospital was the day the word “diabetes” entered my life, …

Work-life balance in health care: Is it a need or a necessity?

As health care professionals, have you ever stopped and asked yourself, “How am I doing?” A humble doctor once asked my team, “How are you doing on a personal level?” That question stopped me in my tracks. None of us knew how to…

5 questions in mental health counseling – and life

Dedicated to my friend and colleague Pat Irving to whom I first told the story. I’m 80 years old and I’ve been writing for over 60 years—first in systems engineering, later in advanced technology, and more recently in public health policy f…

The widow’s walk: a poignant tale of loss, love, and recovery

A widow’s walk, also known as a widow’s watch or roof walk, is a railed rooftop platform often having an inner cupola or turret, frequently found on 19th-century North American coastal houses. The name is said to come from the wives of mari…

To avoid unwanted medical treatment: Choose a bulldog surrogate to fight for you

“Health is a matter of choice, not a mystery of chance.” —Aristotle As an end-of-life (EOL) consultant, one aspect of my job is advance care planning, which involves helping people create an advance directive. An advance directive (AD) has …