By now I think folks on the business management level of health care are at least aware that we Americans spend a lot of money on health care and seem to get very little in return. The author of a provocative piece in Forbes thinks “unnecessary health care” is our worst problem. This statement hit me broadside. This does seem pretty true for the example she chose, even though it is decidedly outside of my field.
As far as I can figure, this sort of planned emergency delivery she talks about brings nothing to obstetric science or to the quality of human life whatsoever. Around the net, I see estimates of how much of what we do is actually science. It usually comes out as about 50 or 60%; maybe a little over half. This is happening as part of what seems to be a massive drive towards EBM, known as “Evidence Based Medicine.”
Filed under Government, Healthcare reform, News, Psychiatrists by on Jun 12th, 2017. Comment. 
Too many Americans can’t afford to and simply do not–take their medicines as prescribed. That estimate is based on information from the (American!) Centers for Disease Control). I have had patients come into my office who take their medications –in both cases, for life-threatening infectious diseases — only every other day, simply because that is all they can afford. I explained to each one individually the idea of the half-life of a drug. They only stay in your body for a certain length of time, then they leave your body in waste products. That is why taking a drug every other day is not really effective. They both gave me almost exactly the same response — It was all they could afford, and it was probably better than nothing. Read more on Big Pharma Is Capitalism Out Of Control…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Diagnosis, Disease, Doctors, Education, Government, Hepatitis C, medicine, News, politics, prescription drugs, Psychiatrists, Psychotherapy by on May 29th, 2017. Comment.
While I was training in psychiatry 30 years ago, the field was changing around me. The older psychoanalysts were forced — reluctantly — to add prescription of psychotropics to their practices or else patients would never make it to their door. Of course, they had little to no training in pharmacology and less interest so they didn’t usually know what they were doing. While I was ascending in the ranks of psychiatric trainees, the best and the brightest of us were ushered into special training in pharmacology research. I was (and probably still am) about as idealist and apolitical an up-and-coming psychiatrist that anyone could have invented. Read more on The Politics of Drug Development…
Filed under politics, prescription drugs, Psychiatrists, Uncategorized by on May 20th, 2017. Comment.
I have been worrying about patients taking them, literally, for years and years. I remember one of those studies that they release to the media. It happened shortly after we moved to the San Diego area about 2004 when I heard on the radio that people who used prescription sleeping pills just did not live as long as people who did not. Read more on Sleeping Pills Are Not The Best Things For Sleep…
Filed under prescription drugs, Psychiatrists by on May 11th, 2017. Comment.
We were sitting in a circle, like an AA meeting or something, but we were inside a recording studio talking about how to market music. We were going around the circle, telling our names and what we had done in music. Me, I said I sang weird stuff (I do) but I was really a psychiatrist. My main talent had been choosing to marry my husband, who discussed his serious musical accomplishments.
Filed under News, Psychiatrists by on Mar 13th, 2017. Comment.
Back in the days before Noah’s flood, a psychiatrist would take care of both the medical and the psychotherapeutic needs of a patient. Of course, we all knew that it took “a different kind of doctor.” In the old days they said it had to be a Jewish doctor who was afraid of the sight of blood. Of which I am not — I mean, I used to be a surgeon so I put that one to sleep.
Filed under Doctors, News, Psychiatrists, Psychotherapy by on Mar 11th, 2017. Comment.
Filed under Doctors, News, Psychiatrists, Psychotherapy by on Mar 4th, 2017. Comment.
It happened several years ago, when one of the immigrants of Mexican origin I frequently saw as a patient in the poorer counties of California came to see me and pulled a pen and a steno pad out of her purse. My Spanish was a bit more rudimentary than it is now. She was matronly, with mostly grayed hair in the classic bun. She asked me if I could spend a few extra minutes with her. I told her I would take all the time I could, and try to serve her needs. It wasn’t her, she said. It was her youngest daughter, aged 13. Read more on Delayed Gratification And Life…
Filed under News, Psychiatrists, Psychology, Research, weight by on Feb 5th, 2016. Comment.
People often want to know something about their psychiatrist.
There is this thing called “transference” where their past relationship history can certainly color what they think and feel. I have no big secrets to hide from my patients, so I can usually be direct and take only an insignificant amount of time on these issues. Usually it just takes one of my stabs at humor.
For those to whom religion is an important facet of life, I am often asked about my beliefs. I often end up saying things like, “I am very sorry I am Jewish and not the Christian you would have preferred, but do you think Christ could work through a crazy old Jewish lady like me who would work really hard to help you feel better?” A “yes” and a laugh and we get straight into the meat of things with that one. Read more on Liberal or Conservative — Different Brains or Different Opinions?…
Filed under News, politics, Psychiatrists, Psychology, Religion and Politics by on Jan 27th, 2016. Comment.