By profession, Donna Dillon is a photographer. She wouldn’t like to be described as a “professional” anything, but the quality of her photos make her deserving of the term. But disarray and inertia characterize Donna now, by her own …
Category: Psychiatry
COVID and mental health awareness in health care
I wake up in a cold sweat. It’s 4 a.m. “Are you awake?” The text goes to one of my colleagues and best friends. I call him brother. He responds as calmly and kindly as he always does. “Sure, what’s wrong?” I don̵…
What about the mental health of clinical trial participants?
“Why is my disease less important than COVID?” Donna asked me toward the end of our phone call. Two years ago, after celebrating her 65th birthday, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia—an aggressive type of blood cancer—which turned out to be …
We need improved mental health care for physicians
In 2014, an emergency medicine resident opened a personal email and was shocked to see it briefly mention the death of another resident physician from a different training program. Unofficial group chats ensued amongst her co-residents, discussing the …
The widowhood effect and COVID-19: What seniors need to know
The coronavirus has taken a major toll on virtually all aspects of our lives, especially for those of us who live in urban areas. As many others have rightfully pointed out, the dangers of the disease extend well beyond the physical complications cause…
Providing clinician support in times of calm and chaos
Before the world was crippled by the spread of COVID-19, physician burnout was already taking an alarming toll on our health care system. Physicians were working more hours, more days, in high-pressure circumstances with excessive charting requirements…
A better way to screen police officers
I’m exhausted. I don’t think I’ll be able to forget these sleepless nights with the sight and sound of protesters in the streets right outside of my apartment. I’ve lied awake until 2 a.m. watching videos on Twitter taken by protestors themselves, tort…
Lorna Breen was the quintessential canary in the coal mine
Dr. Lorna Breen, who died by suicide on April 26, was the canary in the coal mine. You can see it in her eyes, and in her smile. I didn’t know her, but I’ll bet she sang. One of her causes was successful communication with autistic patients…
Opening up America for the sake of mental health
Fighting to protect the health of the economy and the health of the people are not mutually exclusive endeavors. In fact, they are strongly related. While COVID-19 does present a significant threat to the physical health of at-risk individuals, the shu…
How emotional antibodies can help recover from the impact of COVID-19 [PODCAST]
“In my lifetime, I have encountered those who have seemingly endured far greater states of human privation than I could ever imagine (though I try to eschew establishing comparative equivalencies [or non-equivalencies] among human suffering as mu…
