It was a particularly beloved patient who asked me if I had any advice about improving creativity. She believed, as many people do, that it is a side effect of treating (even a relatively minor form) of bipolar illness. A lot of research back in the days of lithium, one of the first really robust treatments for bipolar illness, strongly suggested it just wasn’t so. Read more on Will Bipolar Treatment Kill Creativity?…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Brain, Diagnosis, Disease, Doctors, Family, medicine, Mental Illness, News by on Sep 21st, 2018. Comment. 
I’ve been keeping this under wraps, but now the cat is out of the bag. Or at least the film is out of the can. Read more on Mini Documentary About — ME!…
Filed under Doctors, life, News by on Sep 1st, 2018. 1 Comment.
Although it theoretically is marginally ethical, I frequently find myself performing a rudimentary psychoanalysis of people I have never met.
I usually find it helps to explain a life or an origin of suffering, or some kind of human empathy, and can bring peace or closure to the folks who come into my office — or the folks who are my friends.
It was a really good friend who told me on the phone today, “I thought of you this past week. My Uncle Ed died.” Read more on Uncle Ed — The War Hero…
Filed under Diagnosis, Disease, Doctors, Education, Mental Illness, military, News, war by on Aug 30th, 2018. Comment.
She was 28, a bit overweight but tired and nervous at the same time.
“I’d like 15mg. of Celexa. My other psychiatrist wouldn’t give it to me, so I left him. He said it was either 10mg. or 20 mg. and that’s it.”
Not the usual “chief complaint” for why someone comes to a psychiatrist — but what the heck? Read more on How To Get 15 mg. of Celexa…
Filed under Diagnosis, Doctors, medicine, News, Psychiatrists by on Jul 31st, 2018. Comment.
There was a saying in Northern France which roughly translates:
“Everything old is new again.
Holy basil oil, from the plant “Occinum basilicum” is good for killing little beasties. The sort you don’t particularly want around. Bacteria and fungi and such. Read more on Basil Oil…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Doctors, Education, medicine, News by on Jul 23rd, 2018. Comment.
I remember my final day as a neurosurgeon. “Washing” a human brain with two humongous syringes of sterile physiologic saline, the same way my mother of blessed memory used to baste a chicken.
I thought maybe as a psychiatrist I had a chance, at least a fighting chance, of preventing a disaster like the one I was standing there trying to treat. Read more on The Decisions You Make…
Filed under Brain, Doctors, Family, life, News, Substance Abuse by on Jul 18th, 2018. Comment.
The population gets older. I think everyone from Washington D.C. to Hollywood has noted the change in the demographic.
Did anyone notice, however, that an older population means more illness and senescence? More illness and senescence means more caretakers. Read more on More Aging, More Caretakers…
Filed under Aging, Alternative Medicine, Doctors, Family, life, News by on Jul 12th, 2018. Comment.
You probably haven’t heard of low-dose naltrexone, but it could help you.
You may not even have heard of regular naltrexone. Read more on Low-Dose Gives A Big Boost…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Doctors, life, medicine, News by on Jun 12th, 2018. Comment.
She is confused and hurts but does not want to take the time to change her antidepressant now.
She tells me that all of her doctors, her pain management doctor and now her new consultation endocrinologist, are doing more and more of the same thing and it is making her worse. Read more on Doctors and Knowledge…
Filed under Diagnosis, Doctors, medical errors, medicine, News by on May 22nd, 2018. Comment.
I was not over 12 when my parents invited me to perform on the banjo which I played rather minimally for a family of synagogue friends.
I went straight to my best song, at that time “Where Have all the Flowers Gone,” by Peter, Paul and Mary. Read more on How Long Does This Continue?…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, depression, Diagnosis, Disease, Doctors, Education, life, Mental Illness, News by on May 13th, 2018. Comment.