As an outpatient adult psychiatrist, I have witnessed an increasing trend of patients seeking a diagnosis of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Often, these patients have had friends or family members diagnosed with the condition and wonder whether they have it as well. They have read about ADHD online and felt that the described symptoms matched perfectly with their lived experience. They were never diagnosed as children but remember …
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“Mr. Jones, how are you this morning?” I ask.
A muffled, incoherent reply.
“Are you in pain?”
“No.”
I perform a brief, perfunctory exam — it’s unchanged from yesterday. I then glance at his breakfast tray on the bedside table — still untouched. The plastic mug is still full of watery, lukewarm coffee, and the rubbery pancakes on the plate are still intact. This is at least the third morning that my patient — …
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During my family medicine rotation, my very first clinical clerkship of medical school, I was assigned to make a home visit to one of my preceptor’s patients—a man I will call Mr. Jones.
Mr. Jones had congestive heart failure, COPD, and a barrage of other chronic health problems. He was a pleasant gentleman but had a low level of health literacy and had been doing a poor job of taking his …
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