Greg Smith is a psychiatrist.
I had been looking forward to and, at the same time, dreading this appointment. Her husband had been ill for many months, but that had not stopped the verbal abuse that superseded the physical blows he could no longer inflict. She had, over many previous visits, told me stories, chronicled the behaviors, and responded with an icy coldness that left me chilled of heart and spirit every time she walked …
The obvious answer is just that, of course. I would save my wife and myself. Everything else is replaceable—well, almost everything. Read on.
Twenty years ago, before the launch of the iPhone and before social media ruled the world, two of the most important things in any traditional American family’s house were the family Bible and the family’s pictures. I will leave the Bible and commentary on it for another question …
I am now in the twilight of my psychiatric career. Yes, I can write that without wincing now, almost, well, maybe just a little. I have made decisions in the last twelve months that have changed my daily schedule, my work life, and my relationships profoundly. Everyone around me, including friends, family members, and even some of my coworkers, thought that I was retiring. It’s not working any longer. Quitting. …
I was listening to Marty Smith of ESPN do the Fore Please, Now Driving podcast for the 87th Masters Golf Tournament this year. The discussion turned to how some places like the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, are just full of memories, ghosts, wisps of recollection, and echoes of voices and cheers long gone that sometimes seem to be brought forward and magnified in our own day and …
“What did you see?” I asked her, as she sat across from me, wide-eyed and obviously unnerved even thinking back about the episode.
“It was horrible,” she said, “just horrible. I was lying on my back, and I saw it in the doorway, a big, dark, shadowy figure, blocking the door to my bedroom. I tried to scream, and nothing came out. I tried to raise my hands, to shield my …
My flights had been delayed, and I did not arrive at the hotel in downtown San Francisco until almost 1 a.m. As I exited the Uber, struggling to shoulder my briefcase and wrangle my suitcase, I was a bit startled to hear a very loud voice coming from my left. “Hey, mister, do you have a dollar or two?” I had been in the city for less than one minute, …
I have never been a very touchy-feely person. I was trained as a biologist and chemist, then went to medical school where more science on top of science was aimed at me like a gushing firehose. I learned to put science and evidence first and to try in my practice of medicine to use only the therapeutic techniques that had some evidence base. That assured me that my patients would …
I often recommend books or podcasts for you when they address timely topics in mental health. The May 4, 2023, episode of The Daily podcast was one such episode that I think you should listen to. On that episode, Jan Hoffman, a health law and affairs reporter for The New York Times, was interviewed about Narcan, its history, current and future use, and how we might all take advantage of …
In July, we all got at least one day off to celebrate a very American holiday, Independence Day. If I were a betting man, I would say that many, if not most of you, participated in at least one of those grand old American pastimes: eating hotdogs or apple pie, barbecuing, going to a baseball game, floating in the pool, watching a movie, or … drinking alcohol. After your celebration …
She was one of my first long-term, supervised psychotherapy cases during my second psychiatric residency year. She was young but still a year or two older than her inexperienced, wet behind the ears therapist, and I use that term very loosely. I was to see her once a week, and every other week or so, I would enter the office of my supervisor/mentor to discuss whatever progress I had failed …
According to the Smithsonian Magazine, diamonds are formed deep within the earth, about one hundred miles down in the upper mantle. As you might imagine, it is quite hot in that part of the planet, and there is a tremendous amount of pressure bearing down in that location. The brutal combination of pressure and heat is what it takes to form diamond crystals.
Now, we can’t actually travel there or even …
“Oh, a storm is threatening
My very life today
If I don’t get some shelter
Ooh yeah, I’m gonna fade away.”
-The Rolling Stones
Shelter. It’s a safe-sounding word, a comforting word, a good ending to the story word. We have all needed shelter at one time or another in life if just to lay our head on a pillow for the night and sleep to be able to face another day. What is shelter, …
As we had our all agency meeting at work the other day, involving mental health employees from all three of our sites and from all types of job descriptions, I was struck by something that came up as we discussed issues of cultural diversity. We had had a good presentation on diversity and how it was germane to the people that we serve everyday. Then, a few folks made observations …
I grew up in a small mill village in northwest Georgia. When things did not go right, someone got sick, or we had an accident, or we needed a sports physical, we would head around the circle to the entrance to the mill complex, just across the grassy field from my house, and see Dr. Harry Dawson. Dr. Dawson was that old omnipresent breed of physician who had a small …
I had a brief, quiet, intense conversation with a friend today. She had just lost another friend, a close one, to a sudden and tragic accident.
“How are you doing?” I asked.
“OK,” she replied as she turned to go up the hallway. In a second, I knew better. “No, not OK.”
Her usually bright smile was strained, her voice soft, her features drawn.
That brief exchange, the sharing of feelings about trauma to …
One question I get asked a lot lately is this: “Is it OK for me to use CBD oil?”
First of all, CBD oil and associated preparations are types of alternative medications, medicines that might not be mainstream or readily prescribed by doctors, but are nevertheless used by many people on their own. Alcohol and marijuana are two substances that are often used as “medicines” by those that think they function …
It happens all too often.
You have not been taking good care of yourself. You don’t eat, you sleep poorly, and you neglect your medical health. Over months or sometimes years, you begin to isolate yourself from your friends and family. You can’t seem to hold a job. You lose interest in once pleasurable activities. Your thinking becomes odd, your thoughts distorted and fragmented and strange. No one knows about that …
“No, I cannot forget where it is that I come from
I cannot forget the people who love me
Yeah, I can be myself here in this small town …”
– John Mellencamp
When I began my psychiatric training in earnest thirty-three years ago after a challenging rotating internship, the indoctrination that began was regimented, sanctioned, scripted and complete. I knew from a very young age, training-wise, that my job was to ask a …
The ad is compelling.
A surfer rides a blue wave, seen from below in crystal clear reflection. The Apple Watch on his left arm cuts through the surf, elegant, sparkling ripples trailing behind. Suddenly, it breaks the surface, and the screen lights up, announcing an incoming call.
Let’s face it, shall we? We are always connected. We are always wired in. We are always on.
We have become a world of interconnected people, …
My car has one hundred seventeen thousand miles on it after just three and a half years. It has taken me back and forth from here to Atlanta more times than I can remember, to the beach, to the mountains I love to hike, and across the country in a seven thousand mile trip four falls ago. It runs well, just like new as a matter of fact. I have …
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