Grief is powerful and can break your heart for the rest of your life, or you can learn from it and become stronger. Losing a loved one is something that everyone will go through, but not all come out as survivors in the end. It’s part of life, bu…
Category: Psychiatry
We’re confusing resilience with grit [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! “It’s not that physicians need to be more resilient. We’ve failed to provide them with the goodwill to be human and embrace their “whole selves” (people who are resilient often but no…
Political creep: government intrusion in health care
The American Medical Association (AMA) would have you believe that the biggest threat to the medical profession is “scope creep” – the intrusion of advanced practice providers into medical practice. The way I see it, this is no big deal; th…
The story of a physician, after a year sober
My first COVID vacation last year was spectacular, except that I barely remember three days because I was drinking to the point of amnesia. I am a physician from a multigenerational family of alcoholics, and I never wanted to struggle with alcohol use …
My 5-minute conversation with a suicide hotline expert
Sandy was sent to me by her primary care physician for evaluation of anemia. As I reviewed her chart, I explained to the medical student that the blood work showed a lifelong benign condition called alpha thalassemia trait that she was born with. It ha…
Medical leaders must show their true colors
Color is often used as a metaphor for personality and emotion. Terms like “red in the face,” “feeling blue,” and “green with envy” are etched in the vernacular. Great leadership requires emotional intelligence, and t…
Mental Health Technologies: Revolutionizing technology within the behavior health care field
This article is sponsored by Mental Health Technologies (MHT), a cloud-based platform that enables health care providers to screen and measure mental health and substance abuse disorders. Mental Health Technologies (MHT) brings much-needed technologica…
Not listening carefully to a vulnerable patient can become a matter of life or death
Paula came to my office on a Monday afternoon, a few months after burying her husband. She and John had been inseparable. They were both my patients, so I knew John had spent the last six months battling lung cancer. They had been married forty-five ye…
Coaching vs. therapy: A physician coach and psychiatrist explains
“Are you analyzing me?” Psychiatrists become acclimated to this question being launched by anyone to whom we are brave enough to disclose our occupation. Mental health stigma persists, and psychiatrist jokes are part of that legacy. All hum…
A doctor’s foray into online therapy
I’ve had my share of therapy. My mother was a clinical psychologist, and I grew up around the concepts of consciousness and the unconscious, growth and awareness, and “authenticity” before “authenticity” was even a buzzwor…
