Category: Psychiatry

Medical gaslighting and strategies to combat it

An excerpt from Story Treasures: Medical Essays and Insights in the Narrative Tradition. The Gish gallop – named after American creationist Duane Gish, who challenged the science of evolution – is a rhetorical technique often used by a debater to throw…

Fighting burnout with deeper human connections

Kim Downey: Fostering meaningful connections and building a supportive community has become my mission as I work to stand up for and alongside doctors. I recently connected Dr. Wael Saasouh with Lisa Scardina. During our thought-provoking conversation,…

How emotional and spiritual connections deepen relationships [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Join us in this episode with Diana Londoño, a urologist, for a thought-provoking discussion on the true essence of intimacy. Together, we challenge the common belief that …

How parental preferences and evidence-based practices intersect to achieve success in intervention programs

With more than 15 years of experience as a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA) and clinician working with children and teens with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their parents, I have seen first-hand how parent involvement is the key to success …

The long strange trip of psychedelic drugs

In the mid-1960s, the Grateful Dead were the house band for Ken Kesey’s Acid Tests, parties in which people were “tripping out” on LSD, parties that helped bring psychedelics into the counterculture. Psychedelic drugs have been the fo…

How coaching saved my life and helped me find freedom from burnout and anorexia

In 2019, I bought a condo, as growing up with the image of the American Dream told me to buy a house as soon as I could. I loved my little condo, but I felt trapped. I decorated the rooms and made it a home, but it wasn’t me. In 2020, I sold it a…

The hidden pain behind a smile

(Trigger warning: suicide attempt) It was dinner time at this hospital’s psychiatric unit. They shuffled into the dining area—slippers, pajamas, disheveled, sad, lonely, depressed … and forgotten. Head count. All were present except for one…

The dark psychology of medical con-men

Paolo Macchiarini, MD, is a thoracic surgeon and regenerative medicine researcher who gained international fame for pioneering surgeries that involved implanting synthetic tracheas seeded with the patient’s own stem cells. However, Macchiarini&#8…

How embracing vulnerability transforms pain into power

Regret. We often think about it because of an action or lack of action. We regret having done something or perhaps not doing enough. Regret is filled with “shoulds,” which soon spiral down into guilt, remorse, self-judgment, anger, and depr…

A life of purpose: free from societal pressures that lead us astray

When you allow yourself to truly see and sit with the fact that we are only here for a short period of time, it can feel scary and also freeing. My world became small when I started developing profound anxiety about dying. It was a good sign, actually,…