Category: Psychiatry

How digital therapeutics can strengthen the provider-patient relationship and improve behavioral health outcomes

Research shows that early intervention in mental health conditions is critical for achieving better outcomes. Left unaddressed, conditions tend to progress. The depression will worsen. The anxiety will escalate. The disorder can intensify to the point …

I bought into the stigmas about the mentally ill, until I became one of them [PODCAST]

“Bipolar runs in my family, so I knew the harsh realities of this untreated illness. A family member faked his own death after a counterfeiting spending spree. My grandfather told people that I would die in a car accident, and he would take my bo…

If the healers are sick, what happens to the rest of society?

People often say health care professionals are often the worst patients. As health care professionals, we are well versed with what is needed to be healthy, but we struggle, like many other people, to consistently apply these principles. Some reports i…

Which is better: Psychotherapy using video or in-person while wearing masks?

At the very start of the pandemic last year, I met with a couple of patients in the office while we wore masks.  Based on that limited experience, I quickly concluded that seeing each other’s faces was of paramount importance, even if over video.  That…

Physician suicide: Where are the leaders? [PODCAST]

“As a mother, a physician, and an educator, I refuse to accept this as normal. It is not! What should we tell the parents of these young physicians? How do we explain to them that their dream of being a doctor became a nightmare with a tragic end…

Physicians are human and grief is as much a part of the human experience as love

Since the first documented COVID death in the U.S. in February 2020, over 726,000 Americans have died. The number of deaths eclipses the death toll of any other American tragedy, whether war or the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918, and health care pr…

Patient complaints have psychological repercussions [PODCAST]

“I believe there is an art to medicine, a psychological connection to your patients through a hands-on patient encounter. There are nuances AI may take decades to compete with. For now, in my lifetime, I hope that people examine patients and when…

Why the business school mindset doesn’t mind physician burnout [PODCAST]

“We can’t expect those with a business school mindset to solve physician burnout. What is needed is leadership throughout health care organizations by those with expertise in the core business, deep commitment to health care workers and patients,…

Domestic violence: May the circle be broken

My youngest daughter just got married to a fine young man. She was beautiful and radiant. As I gave my daughter away when the minister told me to, I sat down next to a picture of my deceased husband. He passed away four years ago. Lisa was our last chi…

Physicians attacking physicians online: trauma of the second order

Anniversaries are usually joyous occasions to celebrate – a wedding date or a date of independence, for example. Other anniversaries invoke solemn occasions, such as the end of a war or 9/11 after the bombing of New York. But there is another type of a…