About

I write on being a friend to yourself.

I practice psychiatry and parent, with my husband, our three young children.

This blog reflects many years of study, along with life and patient experience. I hope you will enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Specific details have come from my imagination and not patients. The characters are fictitious and not based on real people. Nor is anything I write meant to be medical advice or engage in any doctor-patient relationship.

© 2010 Sana Quijada, all rights reserved

Contact:  (951) 514-1234

A map of California showing topography and geo...

More About Dr Q

I am a practicing board certified psychiatrist, a lover of books, a mom, a wife, and a huge fan of Starbucks (as well as local California coffee houses like Cafe Daniel or Cafe Bravo.)

I never get tired of talking about becoming a friend to yourself, and working with others with those same goals is my dream job. This blog is a place where I get to hear the concerns and perspectives of self-accountable people in the trenches, so that I never lose touch with what’s happening outside of my tiny point on the globe.

My Medical Practice Story

I became a licensed physician in 1999 after one year of Internal Medicine and Psychiatry Internship and have since completed a general psychiatry residency between two programs, Loma Linda University Medical Center and Harvard South Shore.  I then completed a Prime Medicine Fellowship at Harvard South Shore in 2002.  Since then, I have worked in several companies and hospitals before settling in my little nook, here in the Murrieta-Temecula areas of Southern California.

Since 2002, I have been practicing private practice, now in the areas of outpatient clinic, encompassing medication management, psychotherapy, ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy), public speaking, and writing.  I also enjoy participating as community faculty with Loma Linda University Department of Psychiatry, and University of Riverside School of Medicine.

Yes, I’ve Done Other Things Besides Psychiatry

I’ve travelled for years with my nuclear family in the medical mission field to somewhere around twenty countries.  My formative years were also largely influenced by the pleasures of music, sports, reading and writing.  My bachelor’s degree in Biology, from La Sierra University, California in 1994, ushered me into the final years of my formal education.  Just before entering medical school, I spent almost three months in Sevilla living in the community and learning Spanish.  Between years two and three of medical school, I spent five weeks in the medical clinics and community of Ecuador, where I was happy to continue studying Spanish.

I live with my husband, two daughters and son, one sweet labradoodle and lots of trees in the hills, about fifteen miles as the crow flies to the Pacific Ocean.

Follow me on Twitter: click here.

If you’re looking for specific posts on this blog, there are several  ways to find them:

1. Open the “Top Posts” tab on the right sidebar.
2. Also on the right sidebar, at the top of it, you’ll find a search box (put in any topic) and a calendar of posts.
3. Across the top (in the boxes) you’ll see some categories of posts you can select.

I hope you find something interesting here, and come back as often as possible!

If you still don’t know enough about me… read on.

8 Random Facts About Dr. Q

1. I don’t watch or read “downers” or scary stuff.  I think I am happier for it.

2. I am tenacious.  The process of coming to a decision, arriving and teaching is pure pleasure.

3. I never sleep during the day for longer than twenty minutes.

4. I have hiked to the fourth cabin on Mount Kilimanjaro.  I love waterskiing, snow-skiing, and tennis and still consider myself “active” even though I haven’t done any of them in fifteen years.  I embrace my denial.

5. I go with my kids to Palazzo Salon to get our hair done.  We get head and neck massages from the best hands and my kids ask for tea.  I do this because I believe in keeping life simple.  Get a good haircut on your kids and you don’t have to worry about what they do with their hair or clothes thereafter.  They still look basically great.  Sometimes it has worked, which keeps me going.

6. I love chocolate.  I love chocolate.  And I am a food addict.  Enough said.

7. “I struggle every single day with trying to balance work and family,” as said by one of my favorite literary agent’s, Rachelle Gardener.  I do too.

46 thoughts on “About”

  1. Thank you, again, for giving me your card and the address for this site. I met you, with your children, at the zoo, yesterday. We rode the “skyway” ride across the zoo and back, talking between trips. You were headed back for another ride but didn’t go right away. I’m assuming you were hunting for zebras?

    Don’t know why you thought I would like your blog. How did you know that I have been recovering from a complete emotional breakdown for 16 years and that the hardest thing I have had to convince myself to do for nearly 70 years now is learn to be a friend to myself?

    Thank you. I will look forward to checking in for your thoughts every day.

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  2. Hello Nancy! What fun to get your lovely comment! You made me feel so good!! I’m thrilled to hear of your courage and better days.
    Who knows why we connected at the zoo of all places?! We did find the zebras eventually which made my daughter feel like her school presentation would be a sure success.
    Touch in any time Nancy. I’d luv to hear your thoughts. Keep on!

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  4. i made a comment in another blog and you replied to my post. then i clicked on your name and it directed me to your blog (perhaps this was the universe’s way of introducing us). here i am saying a big HELLO from down under.

    i have started reading your blog and i find some of your topics re-affirming myself. things that i already know but tend not to do. when these things are told by a third person one tends to listen. ironic and funny. hope you are well. keep the posts coming.

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  7. I love your blog. I have been reading it since you put it up and I have reflected on a lot of the things you’ve posted. I’m not being biased either, as I know we are old friends. You are exceptional at reaching out to people and I love that. You are blessed and those that know you and read your work are blessed. ♥ Eva Keep up your awesome work!

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  8. Thank you for your lovely comments today about my travel writing posts. I am SO glad I found your blog. As someone who suffers from Generalized Anxiety Disorder, I am so in favor of not only helping people relieve symptoms and feel better, but also to love and appreciate themselves the way they are. Too many people (especially those with mental illness or psychiatric problems) feel as if they are “less than” so-called “normal” people.

    This is so important, and I look forward to getting to know you better via our blogs! 🙂

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  9. Hi Sana, I believe you have done amazingly well for yourself. I admire your philosophies on watching or reading scary movies. I love comedy because I feel I need lots of laughter in my life.

    I hope my blog doesn’t discourage you from reading it, I don’t mean it to be a downer but I have suffered all kinds of abuse as a child except for sexual abuse (thank God). I have allowed those abuses to dictate who I am today and I am now saying “no way, no more.”

    I am seeking God to help me change with help from my fellow bloggers because I long to be happy as you. Can’t say I love chocolate like you 🙂 but I could sure go for those massages except that I have a phobia about sanitary in public places, go figure because I’m sure that is exactly what I need to relax…lol.

    I hope you will continue to educate me with your medical expertise in your blog and offer your opinion on my blog.
    Blessings to you and your family.

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  15. Fantastic blog. What do you think of the relationship between the doctor and the ex-patient? Can they have an intimate relationship if they’ve only had several consultations?

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  16. Thought I would drop in and say hello, colleague to colleague. I’m a psychiatrist practicing in North Carolina. My presence here in the blogosphere is strictly avocational- medicine takes up far too much of my life as it is! I expect most of us feel that way.

    It’s a pleasure to meet you through the ether.

    All the best to you! -Mark Snyder, MD

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  18. I would like to say I love your blog and the wonderful and beautiful things you share as well as the inspiration and smiles you bring in doing so! Thank you for being you and I hope even if you do not accept awards you will accept the sentiment expressed as I honor you with one. There is no prize that comes with the award other than my appreciation and being grateful you are part of our world and making a difference by sharing in such a positive way…
    I have posted the award and link to it here I hope you will accept it or at least the sentiment behind it! http://artisticlyxpressedthoughts.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/awards-and-shared-gifts/

    With love,
    Joe

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  20. Hello, should an individual who began medication for depression and anxiety in middle school, and who is now an adult, be resigned to taking medication for the rest of their life? Having “grown up” with medication, the individual has never really learned true coping/problem-solving without medication. With adulthood comes wisdom and growth and a greater capacity for higher thought so it seems like the individual has the possibility of living a medication-free life if only they could be weaned off of the medication responsibly.

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