Last night at our self-care workshop, we asked the question, Where do emotions and behaviors come from? The answers, were nice and varied; none the same. It’s such a great question though, don’t you think? It would be great to hear from you as well. Where do emotions and behaviors come from? Then, would you […]
Let me tell you a story. Once there was a young man who couldn’t negotiate the world around him well. He ostracized his peers with his behaviors. He was easily offended. He didn’t enjoy much and people could sense that, like a divining stick whenever he was around. Do you recognize him? Have you heard […]
Me: So Doctor. What do you think about the concept of God and psychiatry? (I was speaking with a palliative care physician. We’ll label his answers as “P”, for palliative care physician.) P: I’m not sure what you’re asking. Me: Well some of us find it hard to think about emotions and behaviors as anything […]
Margarit was a lovely twenty-something, with blue-black bouncing hair above a slim pixy framed physique. She smiled easily and chattered like she was on telephone call that was about to lose reception. Her hands moved, conducting her thoughts between us. She was dressed like one of the cool girls on campus, out of my echelon, […]
“We know the Bible speaks of sins of the fathers passing to the 3rd and 4th generations while God imbues his kindness and mercy far beyond that to those who love him and keep his commandments.” Rosa had no experience in the world of mental health, or so she thought. She had spent her […]
“The devil is talking to me.” Her lips shaped words but her voice was like a robot. My gorgeous tall black thin framed model-bodied patient looked at me with a face that barely moved. Almost flat. Her eyes rarely blinked, with orbs that seemed to jump out at me when she spoke. This is Talia, […]
One of the difficulties we have in talking to psych patients is realized with the dawning truth that we are not curing anyone. Working in those conditions of not curing, you both, patient and psychiatrist, have to come to terms with each others’ agendas. The physician says, “(‘I’m a failure.’) I can’t cure anything.” Now eye […]
Finished the CME talk I did last week and thought, you might find some use for it. I’ve received bad press many times for not being, in so many words, legit or academic enough. Check out the comments on my ECT book on Amazon.com for examples :). Maybe this one leaning into that bosom of greatness […]
Me-on-Me Crime! I was doing my speed walking thing on the Balboa Beach cottage lined shore. Gorgeous, it was. Fluffy thoughts were everywhere. I was purposely passing under the low hanging docks to upscale some lower body muscles. Some string bean teens with their fishing poles moved into the water’s leisurely lipping edge ahead of me. […]
I’ve been a little scared of losing God most of my professional education and practice life. Everyone knows that no one can make it through psychiatry and still believe in God. And those that do make it through psychiatry and still believe in God, don’t get it. Or so the opinion goes. When I started […]
Greg went to arrange his annual colonoscopy. Because he was having a chronic cough, his gastroenterologist (GI specialist) was wise enough to schedule him the “double dip” colonoscopy and endoscopy. Greg was not pleased. He was less pleased when Dr. GI found gastritis (inflammation) in his colon, an ulcer (inflammation) in his stomach, and esophogitis […]
Despite the distance he had come, he still controlled much in his acts of intimacy. The timing, the moves, the style, Bernard was not always aware even of how or when he called the how and when, but he did, still, on occasion, like someone with a clipboard and whistle. He was sincere in his […]
Sweaty, well-worn, in bike-ware, she was eating comfortably with her friend. I kept trying not to stare and just had to fight it! I wanted to imprint her shiny wrinkled yet blooming geriatric status and break down what I saw into categories of self-care moves to grow old by. She looked really good. I managed […]
We are like the national bank of our own nation. If we do not invest and do book-keeping, we get the great depression. But what does that mean? What is investing in Me? What is book-keeping? “I am not an accountant and I am not good with numbers,” we say. We are talking about putting it […]
Some of our most difficult cases are when we, the medical care-givers, think we know better how to take care of someone than we do take care of ourselves. When a person maintains decision making capacity, but whose brain health disables them, if we care, we care. Monty was one of these. He was ill! […]
Fred didn’t remember his panic. He thought his main problem was his sleep. His so-called “main problem” changed with his symptomatology. Fortunately or unfortunately he didn’t know it was happening. Fred reminded me of a paper doll. Now I’m a veterinarian, now I’m a clerk. Of course there are all the stories that accompany each […]
You make your own definitions of Me, self, and friendship. This is mine I share because it is friendly to Me. It is not meant to be a template. I am the bride of Christ. When I speak of Me, I speak as one claimed by Love and in Love. When I speak of Me, […]
Repost. Self-Care Tip – Own your choices, even when they feel painful. She was leaving after twenty-two years of marriage. Eva married young and says that about one or two of those years were pleasant. The rest of the time she disappeared in her service to her husband’s ever-growing list of needs. Although he was […]
Self-Care Tip: Find your need, grip it tight enough to not let it be taken from you and loose enough that fatigue will not lose it for you. If we don’t know our need, if we don’t know our wanting, the reason we say “Evangelize,” “Buy this!,” “Don’t miss it!,” if we don’t know why […]
Have you ever noticed that hating the person who hurt you is never enough? The damage does not respond. The edges do not come back together. Hating them harder, hating them more effectively, with your voice, with your body, committing your talents toward their detriment, recruiting forces, community – this is not enough. Finally, you […]
