I’ve been there. In my first two years of severe, chronic pain, I was right where you are at. I felt hopeless, mentally exhausted, and didn’t want to keep living with an extreme level of pain anymore. I felt there was no point if I couldn’t…
Category: Psychiatry
Save the savers: I’m so tired of physician suicide
This beautiful man lost his life to suicide recently. He was an emergency physician and an incredible advocate for LGBTQIA health care. He was funny and bright. He posted almost daily with funny quips, stories from the ER and support for his colleagues…
It’s time to reframe second victim syndrome
The term “second victim syndrome” was first coined by Dr. Albert Wu in 2000. The definition is “the effect of an unanticipated adverse medical event on a clinician.” Certainly, the concept is pertinent to what health care professionals experience in …
No one taught us the skills to cope with feeling bad about ourselves
In her book Daring Greatly, Brené Brown says, “If we want to be fully engaged, to be connected, we have to be vulnerable. In order to be vulnerable, we need to develop resilience to shame.” If you’re a physician who is “not good at being vulnerab…
The soul-sucking, energy-draining life of a physician
It is not a secret that being a physician can be exhausting and time-consuming, but do most nonphysicians really know what it’s like to be one? The answer is a resounding no. Television glamorizes the role of the physician and hides the tedious e…
Practicing medicine without a license is illegal. Yet cannabis dispensaries are doing it.
I look forward to clinic days. I thoroughly enjoy meeting with patients, hearing how they’re doing, and helping them to feel better – even if, on occasion, the only thing I can do to help is to listen. Yesterday was a clinic day. In the middle of…
Avoiding the pitfalls of integrating primary care into community-based mental health centers
Providing primary care to patients with mental illness is a challenging task that requires highly skilled and experienced practitioners comfortable with the full array of biopsychosocial problems with which these patients present. For example, understa…
Don’t yell at me. I’m trying to help.
For many years, I have treated individuals with substance use disorders. I have found this work to be both gratifying and frustrating. Part of the frustration stems from interactions with governmental agencies and families. The families are, of course,…
Stress and medicine: My salute to frontline workers
What is stress? Stress is a bodily response to external pressures. It’s an emotional state that we go through when dealing with difficult situations, and it can have a major impact on our health. When faced with work deadlines, family problems, a…
Film and television continue to depict psychiatrists as heartless swindlers [PODCAST]
“Have you ever watched a movie, television show, or read a book where the villain is a medical doctor? If you are a psychiatrist, you will be alarmed by how many times the villain in these stories turns out to be a psychiatrist. In all fairness, …
