Category: Psychiatry

We need a new approach to Black mental health

In recent weeks, an outpouring of new research has highlighted the severity of the Black mental health crisis. One new poll shows that 77% of Black and Latinx women face mental health barriers related to racism. Another new study found that Black women…

Help is out there: a waitress’ story of hope and inspiration

I treat myself to the same restaurant for breakfast once or twice a month. There she is again, the same waitress with those same sad eyes. She knows my name, but I don’t know hers. Sometimes she has a bruise on her forehead or bruises up and down…

Tips for managing seasonal affective disorder [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! In this episode, we welcome Stephanie Straeter, a clinical psychologist. The holidays are often portrayed as a time of joy and thankfulness, but for many people, this is not the case. In fa…

The power of first impressions: How false information can stick

An excerpt from Justice in the Age of Judgment: From Amanda Knox to Kyle Rittenhouse and the Battle for Due Process in the Digital Age. In the early 1970s, a group of researchers at Stanford University placed advertisements in a newspaper offering two …

The benefits of facing mortality: How Bruce Springsteen and other rock stars prove productivity can increase with age

According to Chris Jordan, a New Jersey shore native who writes about music and entertainment, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed “like their lives depended on it” when they recently kicked off their 2023 tour in Tampa, Flori…

Breaking the cycle of addiction treatment scams: a physician’s guide

You sigh as you see the name on the next chart. “Good grief, this poor woman,” you think as you place your hand on the doorknob. “Doctor, I really tried. I really tried this time!” she sobs. “Cheryl, I know you did. But yo…

Nurse’s whistle of hopelessness: a tale of a dangerous workplace with no safety measures

I finally found time after retirement to clean out my nurse’s book bag. It contained items such as a stethoscope, extra playing cards for patients, highlighters, various pens, a penlight, a notebook with important phone numbers throughout the hea…

Gratitude takes practice. How come health care workers aren’t better at it?

Like interest rates and food prices, burnout among health care providers continues to rise. From my perch—as a hospitalist in a large tertiary hospital—the sheer terror of the early days of the COVID pandemic has been replaced by a grinding fatigue fue…

A discussion on mental health during the holidays [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! In this episode, we welcome Jennifer Shaer, a pediatrician, to discuss the issue of physician suicide rates and how the holidays can impact mental health. Despite being one of the happiest …

The invisible graveyard of every physician’s career: Why every doctor needs a “badness” plan

As physicians, we all know what “badness” is in medicine. “Badness” is a word many physicians use to convey a painful, complicated, tragic, or adverse clinical experience. Badness is usually some bad, particularly emotional &#82…