Category: Psychiatry

The power of bibliotherapy to heal

We are in the midst of an alarming global mental health crisis. Its impact is felt most acutely by our youth. Nearly 20 percent of children ages 3-17 in the U.S. have a mental health issue, and suicidal behaviors among high school students increased mo…

Empowering health care professionals through mindfulness [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! We delve into the critical issue of physician burnout and the transformative power of mindfulness in health care. Our guest, Seema Desai, a dentist and life coach, shares her expertise on h…

Posttraumatic growth: Embracing the healing and transformation

An excerpt from The Unexpected Gift of Trauma. Copyright © 2023 by Edith Shiro. Reprinted by permission of Harvest, an imprint of HarperCollins. When a traumatic experience shatters our world and we’re left to pick up the pieces, the idea that we…

The real story behind Woodstock is not the brown acid

In my search for ever-obscure rock music from my generation – not the greatest generation but the flower generation – I came across a CD collection of rare songs titled “Brown Acid: The Seventeenth Trip,” appropriately subtitled: “Hea…

Exploring changing definitions of addiction [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! Join L. Joseph Parker, a research physician, as we delve into the evolving definitions of addiction, particularly in the context of chronic pain management. Explore the historical shifts in…

Can ketamine and SSRIs offer a complete depression treatment?

We have a problem with current recommendations for depression treatment. Thirty-five percent of patients will not go into remission or get any relief at all from SSRIs and SNRIs. And even when it does work, it takes about six weeks to start having an e…

Overcoming depression: a medical resident’s journey

How did I get here? Heading to the highest place I can find, in contemplation of jumping and falling to my death. I had always feared death before this point, but now it seemed the only logical solution. I seemed to have it all going my way. So why wou…

It’s time for burnout to become a quality metric

I completed a fellowship in quality improvement, making quality metrics an integral part of my career for the past 15 years. At times, these metrics can be frustrating, especially when reimbursement is tied to constantly shifting targets. Yet, health s…

Are health care workers being gaslit about burnout?

When an animal is shot and bleeds to death, does it “suffer from a bleed out”? No, the hunter shot and killed it – that’s the truth, and that’s the main narrative. “Bleeding out” was a natural consequence. Yet …

Coupling behavioral health prescriptions with measurement-based care

It can be difficult for patients with substance use disorders, depression, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder to seek care and commit to a regular schedule of behavioral health care visits. However, telehealth and telepsychiatry have vastly enab…