In medicine, we’ve long relied on the oxygen mask analogy to justify self-care: “Put your own mask on first before assisting others.” It’s a powerful image—but it’s not enough. Oxygen masks drop in emergencies. Putting the…
Category: Psychiatry
Rethinking addiction treatment: contingency management and the future of recovery [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Health care executive Traci Sweet discusses her article, “The role of contingency management in addiction treatment.” She makes a compelling case for the incre…
Why self-care must become medicine’s new standard
We were taught that sacrificing ourselves is noble. That resilience is enduring. And that suffering and struggling are valiant. We were taught rest is optional, complacent, lazy—something for other, less busy, less important people. We were also taught…
How societal narratives trap us and how to escape
Lose weight and you’ll be happy, They say … I wasn’t happy, I was exhausted and depleted. You’re so disciplined, They say … As I starved myself And had to earn my food. I wish I could have your problem, They say … Brainwashed into thi…
From basketball to bedside: Finding connection through March Madness
Here in the Midwest we have finally made it through the doldrums of winter, which also indicates the season that basketball fans eagerly anticipate all year: March Madness. The annual National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) single-elimination b…
Addressing America’s reliance on psychotropic medication [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, “How America became overmedicated—and what we can do about it.” He raises concer…
AI in mental health: a new frontier for therapy and support
The mental health crisis in America continues to intensify. With therapist shortages, high costs, and long waitlists, there are millions of people without access to therapy. As a cognitive scientist who analyzed therapy transcripts in grad school and n…
The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you
Practicing medicine today is not what most of us envisioned when we chose it as a profession. We still love science. We still love health. We still love helping patients and being healers. But the practice of medicine has changed—and continues to evolv…
Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check
Since the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), when civil service exams evaluated intellectual abilities, people have used cognitive assessments to identify special talents or, more commonly, to detect problems. We’ve come a long way in 2,000 years! Tod…
How grief transformed a psychiatrist’s approach to patient care
It is a routine Saturday morning—I am sitting in my office, looking at the snowflakes dropping outside my window. As I sip on my cup of Earl Grey tea preparing my psyche for a busy day of managing an on-call shift on an acute care psychiatry floor, I a…
