Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specializes in the social, cultural, ethical, spiritual, and religious aspects of psychiatry, and since 2012 is in retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekdays column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. Among his diverse and rare combination of major awards for psychiatrists, he was selected to receive the international Oskar Pfister Award for his contributions to religion, spirituality, and psychiatry at the American Psychiatric Association (APA) annual meeting in May 2026. Previously, he was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry; the 2016 Administrative Psychiatrist Award from the American Psychiatric Association; in 2002, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA; at the turn of the new millennium, an APA Art Association award at the annual meeting for his displayed collage “Any Point of View (of Rusti) is Pure Delight”; and in 1991 the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. He also presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He has been an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physical burnout, and xenophobia, among other social justice causes, serving on many related local and national community and professional Boards. He has edited the requested 5-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, The Eastern Religions and Spirituality, and in 2026, the Second Edition of Islamophobia and Psychiatry. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.
A quarter of a century ago, E. Mansell Pattison provided the invocation for the opening of the 1985 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. It was called “A Prayer for Psychiatrists” and was so well received, that it was reprinted in [Pastoral Psychology (1987;35:187-188,), a now defunct journal. Dr Pattison, both a psychiatrist and a minister, died shortly thereafter, in 1989.
Today, May 5, I'll be turning 64. Normally, that would not seem to be a birthday of particular distinction. Why is it for me?
My first exposure to electronic medical records (EMRs) was when I saw my own primary care physician about 3 years ago. I didn't like it. Neither did he. For me, it seemed like he had to pay as much attention to the computer as to me. We spent less time talking. He laughed as he typed, joking that once everything was in the computer, it should save time and make for better care. I responded that we heard the same promise with managed care.
“I just threw him in the lake and expected him to die. . . My only regret is that he lived.”
I have been a member of our American Psychiatric Association (APA) for over 30 years. I've also been a Fellow for many years, served on the Assembly 3 different times, served on the Managed Care Committee twice, and was once asked if I would consider running for President. On the other hand, I did resign from a request to run for District Branch President because of some unexpected (and what I and some others thought was unethical) collegial conflict.
Posted on February 3, I asked the question, CAUTION! Who Should Be the DSM5 Diagnostician? I suggested that we needed to pay as much attention to who would be designated as the diagnostician as on the revised diagnostic criteria.
It‘s not often that a writer gets such unexpected, and-I‘m quite sure-unintended credibility for an article. Whether by serendipity, synchronicity, or the collective unconscious, that seemed to occur with my January 6 Psychiatric Times blog on “Why Psychiatrists Should Go Green.”
“The proper use of these criteria requires specialized clinical training that provides both a body of knowledge and clinical skills.” How many of us psychiatrists recognize this statement? Or, is it like the fine print that we often gloss over in our everyday contracts and hope it doesn’t cause us trouble at some later time?
I don’t know how many psychiatrists paid much attention to the climate-change conference in Copenhagen last month, but I came away convinced they need our help. Here’s why.
This introduction article elucidates how the various contributions to this special report help make psychiatry such a rich and varied field.
How is cultural psychiatry defined? What is its history in the United States and how will it continue to influence mental health care in the future? What do mental health care professionals need to know to provide culturally sensitive care?
How has the emphasis on economics and mental health care affected the quality of care? Has it improved under managed care? Implementing prevention strategies and improved quality, although initially costly, may save money in the long term.
The advent of the new millennium has stimulated many discussions about what changes can-and should-occur in the world. For social psychiatry, there could not be a more fortuitous time to review and reaffirm our role in this country's health care.