Residents Blog

Refractory psychiatric illnesses are no different from complicated infectious diseases in that they both require multiple concurrent medications and treatment modalities.

During my career—initially as a caddy and now as a psychiatry resident—I’ve had the immense privilege of listening to the stories of others. Here's one of those stories.

As I near the 1-year anniversary of my crowning as a World’s Expert, it seems like only yesterday that I was just an average citizen . . . I am at heart a clinician and a consummate clinician is what I aim to be.

Every residency class needs its symbolic rebel, an outsider who will risk it all in the fight against inane and superfluous paperwork. When your program is demanding redundant treatment plans, insisting on triplicate no-show notes, or reminding you to complete some tedious log, this resident is the kind of leader who will confront the administration with tough phrases, like “This form is ridiculous.”

I was ready. In my mind I rehearsed agreeable sermons about diet, exercise, and MMR vaccines I’d use to shepherd my courteous new patients to wellness. It’s like I wanted to replace my memories of psychiatric patients with the most wholesome medical facts.

The team psychiatrist for Super Bowl Champs, the Baltimore Ravens, draws on his own professional career of working with athletes of all ages and levels and provides a comprehensive presentation of the literature in the emerging field of sports psychiatry.

Recently, Psychiatric Times spoke with author Susannah Cahalan about her recently published memoir, which explores a subject of vital importance to psychiatrists. At the height of her disease, nothing distinguished her from a person with schizoaffective disorder or schizophrenia—the only difference came later: when she was cured.

This story of a man's struggle with bipolar disorder does not romanticize mental illness. Medication compliance does place him squarely within the spectrum of imperfection which includes us all, whether or not we carry a DSM diagnosis.