I’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand and tame my own mind. I meditate—have for years. I journal. I go to therapy. I’ve devoted years of my life to endurance sports to “get out of my head,” I even lived at a yoga ashram….
Category: Psychiatry
When doctors die in silence: Confronting the epidemic of violence against physicians
When the CEO of United Health Care was assassinated in broad daylight on the streets of New York City, the media lit up. News outlets scrambled for interviews. Security protocols were analyzed. His death was treated with the gravity such a high-profile…
DSM-5 doesn’t name it, but moral distress is everywhere in medicine
The mental health crisis clinicians face but won’t talk about this May Ask anyone about health care reform, and you’ll likely get passionate responses. Single-payer versus market-driven. Universal coverage versus cost-containment. Clinician…
Love, empathy, and the triangle of exhaustion: Why humanity must come first
In our modern world, we often find ourselves caught in a cycle—balancing the demands of work, family, and personal well-being. For those living with marginalized identities, this exhaustion is compounded by societal expectations, a lack of understandin…
How smartphones are stealing your focus—and what you can do about it
Over the past two months, I embarked on a mission to complete two reading tasks: A journey in service, the autobiography of Nigeria’s former military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida, followed by Dream count, the latest work by the world-renow…
Unleashing the kraken: What The Pitt gets wrong about psychiatric care
The Pitt, a medical drama set in a fictional Pittsburgh trauma center, captures the human connections forged in emergency medicine. The show follows a team of residents and medical students through a relentless 15-hour shift under their seasoned attend…
Why ADHD isn’t just a childhood disorder and what that means for adults
Current studies identify the negative impacts of failing to diagnose and treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which contributes to well-described impairment, morbidity, and mortality. Timely diagnosis, acceptance, and treatment do, in…
Gen Z is already transforming mental health care—are we listening?
In a clinic in India, I once watched a young mother wait for hours to be seen, clutching her child and a paper folder filled with years of handwritten notes. There was no digital health record, no streamlined triage system—just patience, resilience, an…
Healers or criminals: the alarming trend of physician prosecution [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Practicing internist and psychiatrist Muhamad Aly Rifai discusses his article “Criminalizing care: How the system turned on physicians.” He argues that physici…
What money can’t fix: the scars left by a friend
I stood at the check-in counter of my physician’s office, waiting for my yearly physical. Beside me, another patient was checking in. I recognized her instantly. It was Denise—my childhood best friend. And yet, I couldn’t bring myself to sa…
