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. 
The easy part is the FDA congratulating itself for an initial effort in 2004 to diminish the use of antidepressants in children and adolescents by adding the black-box warning that such medication may increase suicidal ideation.
Equally easy is blaming physicians who treat children and adolescents for becoming “inured” to warnings. Read more on More Kids On Antidepressants…
Filed under depression, medicine, News, Psychiatrists by on May 18th, 2018. Comment.
Current science consensus: the state of the bacteria in your gut could seriously have something to do with whether or not you end up having Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD). PTSD has been a horrible side effect of war for a really long time. Read more on The Colon (yucch) As A Factor In PTSD…
Filed under Brain, Mental Illness, News by on Mar 11th, 2018. Comment.
It is hard for me to digest the events of July 14 in Nice, France, as I feel especially close to them.
I was present at seven such annual patriotic ceremonies during my tenure as a student of medicine in a French government facility. I loved the street-fair atmosphere, where I sang at the top of my lungs and danced with a whole heart.
As a medical student in government service, a terrorist attack would have mobilized me into service of France, a nation I can only love, which gave me a medical education essentially free of charge, asking only for me to prove on an exam that I had what it takes.
I wear a tiny Eiffel Tower around my neck — I stroke it as I write. Read more on Terrorism In Nice…
Filed under Diagnosis, Family, Government, Mental Illness, News by on Jul 17th, 2016. Comment.
I remember a supervisor from the past whom I never thought had the right personality to be a psychiatrist. I mean, he was a little angry and domineering for my taste. But heck — I gave him a “bye” since he worked in a prison context.
I was never attacked by a prison patient through my tours-of-duty through four (all-male) California state penal institutions. I had a couple who ended up on their knees, crying, stroking my hands, or even asking permission to kiss me (denied, of course).
They said I was “nice” to them. I guess I treated them like human beings — something pitifully lacking in the prison system where everything seems oppressive and depersonalizing. Read more on Assaults On Psychiatrists…
Filed under abuse, Mental Illness, Personality Disorders, Psychiatrists, PTSD, Public Health System by on Jun 19th, 2014. Comment.
The current rate of suicide among soldiers should make us angry, maybe enough to destroy our computers or, heaven forbid, write to congress or even try to stop war.
I checked out this institution¸ the National Center for Veterans Studies, the best I could. I am not sure why the Department of Defense and the Department of the Air Force seem to have a love affair with this division of the University of Utah.
Of their current projects, some of the proposed studies are randomized clinical trials of various therapies as suicide preventives. I am a great believer in research. But there is one question I am asked frequently, still, although I evaluate research but am not currently engaged in it. People ask me if I am a doctor first or a researcher first. There is absolutely no contest. I am a doctor first. I want lives saved, first. Read more on Why Soldiers Commit Suicide These Days…
Filed under News, politics by on Oct 11th, 2013. Comment.
I am a veteran.
Military. American. U.S. Army. Medical Corps.
This is truth.
Uncle Sam Urges Gen Pershing On From France To Germany
Along with being a fairly knowledgeable physician with over 30 years experience, it still seems incredible and unbelievable to at least some of my patients. It is not in their experience to know women who appear on the surface to be feminine and attractive who have been in the military. Admittedly, these things were never brought up until I lost a massive amount of weight (half my body weight) but there they are.
Every time I get a chance, I thank a veteran with a handshake for defending – in these very words — “this great nation.” This seems to be a custom that has crested, for I have not met anyone else who does this lately.
Even though I tell people I am a veteran, too, almost nobody thanks me back.
Read more on This Memorial Day, Thank The Live Veterans And Honor The Dead…
Filed under Holidays by on May 26th, 2012. Comment.
I get blazing mad whenever one of those knee-jerk “patriots” cry, “You don’t support our troops!” if anyone should criticize the military, our government’s foreign policy or any specific wars, invasions or other actions we’ve taken in this brave new millennium.
I was in the peacetime United States Army. Since my honorable discharge, I’ve served several Veteran’s Administration medical facilities in several states, and in private practice, I’ve made a special study of the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – which the military routinely denies even exists and doesn’t even try to treat in many VA facilities.
Yes, I was in the Army, and No – I wasn’t in combat. Nevertheless, with the idea of war always hanging over my shoulder, my life was different. I never really understood the “grunts” — the infantry without appreciable rank — who wanted nothing more than to see “action.” Read more on Can’t We All Just Get Along?…
Filed under Uncategorized by on Oct 12th, 2011. Comment.
I remember vividly and will never forget when a home-made bomb blasted the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was April 19, 1995, and I was in the midst of morning rounds at a major hospital’s inpatient psychiatry unit.
A lot of people were “decompensating” — going psychotic, had beliefs the world was coming to an end and needed extra medicine.
They called it the worst homegrown terrorist attack on U.S. soil up to that time in our country’s history.
I thank the basis of my personal belief system that I was not closer to the explosion at that time, and that I was not personally involved in the later and more catastrophic attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 2001. Read more on Which Should You Choose — Therapists Or Friends?…
Filed under News, Psychiatrists, Psychotherapy, Religion by on Oct 5th, 2011. Comment.
Most people don’t seem to understand how disability benefits work – and that includes doctors as well as patients. There’s a very good reason for that. The system is screwy.
Thinking that your own regular doctor might be prejudiced and just dish out disability benefits ad infinitum so you never have to go to work (Gee – where did the government get that idea?) the patient is sent to an outside doctor to do an evaluation.
I’ve done plenty of those in my day. I’ve done them for veterans and for Social Security and for worker’s comp and even such exotic things as employee plans for large corporations (such as GM and Ford) and unions (like the Railroad Workers). Read more on Diagnosing For Dollars…
Filed under Diagnosis, News by on Sep 30th, 2011. Comment.