“This plea for help is on behalf of every hospital worker who has been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic — from the environmental services staff and medical assistants who are often not recognized, to the social workers and chaplains wh…
Category: Psychiatry
From physician to holistic healer: my journey on Clubhouse
My days start differently now than they did a year ago. I arrive in my private practice office and take a seat on a meditation cushion as the sun breaks through the curtains. New Orleans streetcars can be heard passing by outside, splintering the still…
Moral injury: What is it, and how is it relevant post-COVID?
The COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented as such an event has not happened on such a global scale since 1919, with the Spanish Flu. At the beginning of the pandemic, we sometimes heard muzzled voices of health care providers who experienced sheer h…
Dying of loneliness: the COVID-19 epidemic in children and adolescents [PODCAST]
“We know the ER’s revolving door will continue to spin for so many children and adolescents who seek help in the heat of their personal crisis. Some will need to stay in the hospital – to heal their bodies and minds and even fight for their lives…
Nothing prepared me for telehealth’s nightmare
The orders from the state seemed to come suddenly, although we all knew we would have to adjust our methods of treating our clients, the news wasn’t good, and seeing anyone in person was treacherous since many still thought it was a hoax and they didn’…
The dark truth of physician burnout
Burnout among doctors is not something new. In fact, way before the pandemic, 69% of physicians reported they were somewhat or incredibly happy in 2020, before the pandemic started. This number drastically fell to 49% when COVID-19 stepped in. This is …
To the patient who wants to die: a psychologist’s perspective [PODCAST]
“I often think about how I can make you see these things about yourself that others see. I think about the ways I can tell you that things will get better even though the darkest of days is upon you right now. But I know I can’t make you see thes…
Surviving medical school with depression
I was first diagnosed with major depressive disorder as a preteen after my teenage sister died. I attempted suicide three years later. This would be the first of several attempts and the first of countless times I felt my life was not worth living. But…
Attention mid-career physicians: Let’s find our ikigai [PODCAST]
“Mid-career colleagues: it’s time to go back to the future. Time to learn again. Time to build professional and social networks at work. Take a lunch break. Bring home a few fewer RVUs. I recently started a monthly journal club for our small sect…
People with addiction belong in clinics — not jails
“Doc, I can’t believe it. I can’t believe I’m here right now.” Though in his mid-60s, my patient had the wide-eyed bewilderment more familiar of a child. He was late for our first visit together — but he was there and agai…
