Job interviews are unpleasant at the best of times, and to me have always felt very fake. But throw mental illness into the mix, and they can be a huge obstacle. There are a number of aspects of job interviews that particularly worry me. Answering unexpected questions My cognitive symptoms of depression aren’t as bad […]
The Challenges of Job Interviews with a Mental Illness Read More »
This week’s TED Talk picks are focused on trauma and come from a diverse range of experiences. How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime (Nadine Burke Harris) In this talk, Nadine Burke Harris passionately addresses the findings of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study. This study found a significant correlation between number of ACEs
TED Talks on Trauma and PTSD Read More »
Like any field, psychiatry has its own collection of terminology. Some of it is self-explanatory, but some of it isn’t. I believe that knowing the jargon helps to narrow the power gap between health care providers and patients, so I put together this glossary of common psychiatric terms. Alexithymia: an inability to identify and describe
A Glossary of Psychiatric Terms Read More »
The mental status exam (MSE) is a framework for assessment that’s used widely in the field of psychiatry. Rather than being a one-time assessment, it is used on an ongoing basis to capture how a patient is doing on any given encounter (and I use the term patient to describe the role and not the
The Mental Status Exam (MSE) in Psychiatry Read More »
Here are a few great TED Talks I’ve found on a variety of topics related to mental health and illness. The Voices in My Head (Eleanor Longden) A psychiatrist once told Eleanor Longden that she would be better off having cancer than a psychotic illness, as it would be more curable. Having the voice she
TED Talks: Mental Illness Read More »
The first time I ever heard of ayahuasca was when I was travelling to Peru and my brother asked if I was going to use it. After looking it up, I dismissed it as one of his cockamamie ideas (btw I love the word cockamamie). But I’ve heard more about ayahuasca since then, and I’ve
Does Ayahuasca Have a Role in Mental Health? Read More »
Talking about mental health is important, and getting conversations going about what mental illness really is requires opening up. Here are some ideas of places where you can share your mental health story on either an unpaid or paid basis. While sharing your story may seem daunting initially, it’s a really important way to work
Way to Share Your Mental Health Story Read More »
In the last few years, I’ve had some traumatic experiences that had a significant impact on my life overall. In terms of how I conceptualize trauma responses, what matters the most is how the mind/brain processes the trauma. That processing can range from adaptive to disordered (i.e. PTSD). While I don’t have PTSD, I still
Creating a Trauma Account Read More »
We’ve all heard of the “chemical imbalance” explanation for mental illness, and in particular, depression. While this term has supported the argument that mental illness is actually an illness, it’s also a gross simplification of mental illness in terms of what’s actually going on in the brain. I wonder if perhaps this terminology is no
Is Chemical Imbalance a Useful Simplification of Mental Illness? Read More »
It was spring of 2017, and my depression had gotten worse despite being on plenty of meds. I decided that I needed to add in other elements to my treatment plan. I’d had some bloodwork done that showed I had elevated levels of inflammation as measured by something called C-reactive protein. I decided to talk to
Can an Anti-inflammatory Diet Help with Mental Illness? Read More »
