“Was I that different? I had severe anxiety necessitating medication, compounded by stress, my own narcissistic tendencies, and a series of life choices—but Jason had something much worse. It all gave me pause. I was now twenty-four, just barely …
Category: Psychiatry
The genius within a schizophrenic mind
She was naked in her seclusion room — a padded cell — with her gown on the floor and drenched in her urine. I was her nurse. I gave her lithium. She put the pill in her mouth and then spit it at me in my face. Then her tirade began: “I’m Je…
How this physician discovered the power of mindfulness [PODCAST]
“Could COVID-19 be an opportunity that brings the plight of health care professionals finally to the forefront? Protect us so we can protect you. Do your part and stay home. Flatten the curve to give health care professionals a chance. Donate …
COVID illuminates silent fear
It’s scary. Like 9/11, we have a new reference point touching everyone on the planet: life before COVID-19 and life after. Regardless if you get it or don’t, the unknowns and secondary consequences are scary. Life before COVID was scary, to…
Second victim syndrome in the time of COVID-19
Every physician I know has a story about an unanticipated patient event. A story that was traumatic at the time and easy to now recall in fine detail. A story that was so impactful that it still haunts them. When a patient suffers an adverse event, …
The challenge of trauma-informed care in the age of COVID
“Doctor, I can’t wear a face mask, can you write me a medical excuse?” My first reaction was a resounding No. COVID-19 cases are surging in many parts of the country; we’ve only just emerged from our own deadly surge in Boston. …
A social worker’s sickest patient
Mary is a woman of sixty years. She is obese. Originally from rural Alabama, she told me her aunt and uncle raised her, and they were bootleggers, making their own liquor. By age fifteen, she was drinking this homemade hooch. She never told me how…
How to handle family and parenting stress as a physician [PODCAST]
“Being a parent in the middle of a pandemic is not easy. Sheltering in place with canceled daycare, school, and college, while also being a doctor or other healthcare worker, working in high-risk, high-intensity situations, presents many challeng…
Mental health care is the not so silent collateral damage of COVID-19
Our country, and the world, is beyond exhausted by COVID-19 and the utter chaos and destruction of lives it has caused. All people, including physicians, are being pushed beyond capacity. What do we mean, collateral damage? Originally related to war: t…
COVID-19 is the symptom. Chronic oppressive job conditions are the disease.
The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the dysfunction of our health care systems, from dramatic racial disparities in mortality rates to the abuses of health care workers. As a health care staff working on inpatient floors during the pandemic, the medica…
