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…
Category: Infectious disease
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…
Will social distancing turn into doctor distancing?
Across our country, Americans are under a stay at home order. People are toiling over the hardships of juggling so many things — childcare, homeschooling, working, or not working — all at once. The day that society can rejoin the public s…
To combat COVID-19, we endanger our doctors in training
American hospitals are quickly running out of resources during this devastating time. It’s not simply a lack of protective equipment and COVID-19 testing – health care workers are rapidly becoming exposed, which limits their ability to care for patient…
Public health requires a broader, longer-term assessment of the pandemic
Many government officials have begun to lift some restrictions on elective surgeries and procedures for hospitals. This means that some of those of us in medical professions not on the COVID-19 front lines will be returning to a workload closer to the …
Rising to the moment COVID demands: How to insure all Americans in pandemic times
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented upheaval of the U.S. health care system. For decades the United States has stood out among peer nations as the only country with no universal health care system. And now we are learning just how problemati…
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…
