“Two issues drive teen substance use: drug availability and perception of risk. Availability: Today’s teens know that obtaining substances is far too easy. For example, 70 percent of high school seniors say marijuana is either “fairly easy” or “v…
Category: Psychiatry
Trauma in health care workers, in comic form
Emily Watters is a physician and discusses trauma in health care workers, in comic form (click to enlarge): Emily Watters is a psychiatrist and can be reached at The Cartoon Shrink. Image credits: Emily Watters
Trauma in health care workers, in comic f…
New strategies are needed for mental health treatment [PODCAST]
“Reducing the occurrence of comorbid mental and physical disorders will require an integrated model combining medical and behavioral health care services. The window of opportunity is open for health insurers and employers to invest in employee a…
Physicians and the weight of expectations [PODCAST]
“What exactly is my obligation to medicine? Am I supposed to practice medicine forever? Is it my duty? Do I have to continue serving my patients, the hospital, and society because of these expectations? The answer is simple: You get to decide. Mo…
Stunning new medical conditions overlooked!
This article is satire. The DSM-5-TR came out in March with some shocking omissions. Here submitted are a few new conditions the next version might include: Animaculism: the state of joy that comes from the care and companionship of nonverbal creature…
Can patients just say no to treatment? [PODCAST]
“Deeming individuals ‘non-decisional’ for misinformed beliefs that are not representative of a psychiatric illness is inappropriate, unfairly medicalizes the narrative and incurs a risk of further public distrust of the health care sy…
Stop telling physicians to be more resilient
I’ve come across several articles recently highlighting the Dr. Lorna Breen Healthcare Provider Protection Act. The primary stated intent of this is “to improve mental health among health care workers. It is named in honor of an emergency p…
I risked my career to save my life [PODCAST]
“I have spent years in silence about my career decisions, nervous that my inability to take call and inability to thrive while sleep-deprived could be seen as weaknesses. Being afraid to admit I was advocating for my mental health and my life. Th…
What does Will Smith’s facial expression at the Oscars tell us about our patients?
Will Smith’s Oscar smackdown of comedian Chris Rock proves one thing: violence should never be a response to insults – or any other inciting factors – in the heat of the moment. Will Smith knows it, and so do the millions of television viewers wh…
How doctors can ensure their Latinx patients receive the best medical care
“Any questions?” I asked one of my patients, Dona Maria, for the third time. After her prolonged silence, I asked again, almost in despair, “anything else? Anything that you don’t like about what I have said? Or anything you don…
