Recent posts

The New York Times By Daphne Merkin June 7, 2018             Suicide, no matter how well we know a person, usually comes as a shock, even a violation, putting the lie to our conviction that existence is to be cherished. The fact that taking one’s own life can exist on...   read more

American Psychiatric Association June 8, 2018           A report released yesterday by the CDC found suicides rates increased significantly in most states between 1999 and 2016, with 25 states experiencing increases of greater than 30%. The report also suggested that more than half of people who died by suicide did not have...   read more

Los Angeles Times By Robin Abcarian June 5, 2018             Hakeem Howard, a senior at Quince Orchard High School in suburban Maryland, was in his first-period class one morning listening to announcements when he heard that the school was looking for graduation speakers and valedictorians. Grade-wise, he told me, he...   read more

American Psychiatric Association June 5, 2018           States that have laws allowing police to temporarily seize firearms from people deemed to be at risk of danger to self or others have experienced a decrease in the number of suicides involving firearms, according to a report in Psychiatric Services in Advance. In recent years,...   read more

American Psychiatric Association May 31, 2018             APA is urging an immediate halt to a new Trump administration policy that separates children from their parents at the U.S. border. “As physician experts in mental health, the American Psychiatric Association opposes any policy that separates children from their parents at the...   read more

The New York Times By Paula Span May 25, 2018             Barbara Herrington, a geriatric care manager in Polk County, Fla., was calling on a 72-year-old woman with dementia and a long history of alcoholism. Ms. Herrington knew her client would be angry that morning. Her daughter had taken the car...   read more

American Psychiatric Association May 24, 2018             More than 2 million times every year, individuals with serious mental illness are arrested. Moreover, more than half a million people with serious mental illness are incarcerated at any given time. In fact, 44% of jail inmates and 37% of state and federal...   read more

In its push for profits, the U.S. health care system has made it difficult for patients to get personal attention from doctors. But what if hands-on medicine actually saves money and lives? New York Times By Kim Tingley May 16, 2018 In October 2014, my father was startled to receive a letter announcing the retirement,...   read more