As the latest pandemic wave seems to be easing, I am again thinking about traveling. I love to travel on vacation. A staycation can be nice, especially if there’s a lot to do around the home, whether that’s working on my home (decluttering …
Category: Psychiatry
Managing expectations in the face of COVID-19
After working a 10-hour Monday, I came home and wanted to collapse on the couch. It was a typical day of dealing with more needs and demands than what was humanly possible to meet. Specifically, I was chewing on what happened at the end of the day rega…
When primary care helps a psychiatrist
“Do you plan to cut down on your hours?” This was what my primary care doctor asked me after she found me complaining about multiple somatic symptoms. As a psychiatrist, I always took pride in how I prioritized my family’s needs and f…
Finding a pathway to hope: reflections from a psychiatrist
You may be feeling hopeless. That wouldn’t be shocking, under the current circumstances. Reading the headlines, one can’t help but remember the beginning of the pandemic, when we were reading about “flattening the curve” and ove…
Who will heal the physician?
I was a third-year medical student in 1999 when the landmark report titled “To Err is Human” was released by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), unveiling the uncomfortable truth about the fallibility of physicians and our medical system. I re…
I risked my career to save my life
Early into my military career and as an oral and maxillofacial surgery resident, I started to acknowledge the fact that, during periods of sleep deprivation that were initially inherent to my military training hours and then surgery call requirements, …
Reflections on physician mental health and tips for sustaining it
The problem Even in the midst of a global pandemic, mental health in medicine is rarely discussed. And yet, the circumstances of our profession create the perfect milieu for darkness. The long work hours. The regularity of tragedy and loss. The nights,…
Misinformation in transgender health care is harming patient care
Living in the U.S., chances are you get some regular mail that you never signed up for — a magazine, a journal, a sales flier. As medical professionals, we also get these free journals related to our field. We don’t always have the time to fact-c…
Recognizing high functioning depression
High functioning depression (or HFD) is the mental health diagnosis given to an individual who exhibits symptoms of high-level depression but manages to maintain overall functionality in life. An HFD person will often engage in activities that would be…
Mildred Mitchell-Bateman, MD: an icon in psychiatry
New Haven, West Virginia, is a small town nestled in Appalachia and located approximately eight miles from the juncture of the Ohio and Kanawha rivers. Newspaper articles from the 1950s and ’60s suggest that the town’s demographic makeup an…
