I obtained a master of arts degree in clinical psychology 20 years after receiving my medical degree. One of the first things one learns as a psych student is to “hold the client in unconditional positive regard.” This was a new concept for me as this …
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” This childhood rhyme aims to teach children to be resilient, that not all words have to hold power. As psychiatrists, we know this is a lofty goal. So much damage and hur…
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 1 in 8 women experience symptoms of postpartum depression (PPD). Furthermore, studies show that minorities have a higher prevalence of PPD, 38 percent with low-income Hispanic mot…
Most of us have heard the phrase “success is about who you know,” and that couldn’t be more true. The people we surround ourselves with are a direct reflection of our life and success. One thing that affects this is emotional intellig…
An excerpt from Brain Storm: A Life in Pieces. The first time it happened, I sat only a few feet away from Yael in her tiny office, a position that usually made me feel safe, but this time I was about to explode. “Shelley, what’s going on?” I couldn’t …
Consumer demand for mental and behavioral health services reached a fever pitch in 2020. From prolonged social distancing and financial strains, to the burnout of extra caretaking, grief over tremendous loss, and the monotony of working from home, the…
Ketamine (colloquially called “K,” “Special K,” or “Vitamin K”) is a potent, dissociative anesthetic. More specifically, it is a nonselective NMDA antagonist that initiates a wide array of physiological effects, alre…
Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of assisting more than 2,000 distressed physicians – some with burnout, others with “rough edges,” still others with psychiatric conditions or misuse of drugs and alcohol. Some of these doctors were s…
The pandemic has impacted many of us around the world, especially the frontline health care workers — myself included here in Melbourne, Australia. It is time we address these issues and bring the conversation into the open. Politicians talk about open…
You stand up from your desk, take a deep breath, and get to work. It’s business as usual. There are exams to perform, test results to review, referrals to be made, and patients to console. A patient’s son is on the phone, concerned about his mom’s upco…
