Ronald W. Pies, MD

How can psychiatry constructively address our nation’s crisis?

Reflections on the anti-restriction protesters and hyper-individualists.

Beyond unsettling our minds, the current pandemic unsettles our souls in ways we are just beginning to understand. Just as the COVID-19 virus attacks the respiratory tract, the pandemic itself can assault the soul. Dr Pies identifies five manifestations of the crisis.

Ronald Pies, MD, offers advice on talking to patients about spirituality during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As we face a medical and existential crisis, how do we find strength and cope with stress and trauma? A podcast with Ronald W. Pies, MD.

Slipping out of quarantine, we walk hand in hand. Comforting words that this, too, shall pass.

How can a human being commit such acts without being under the influence of some powerful “alien” force? How can they not be "mentally ill"? Here's how.

When it comes to mass shooters, persistent emotional disturbance is not the same as frank “mental illness.” Exploring the spectrum of psychopathology.

A reformulated biopsychosocial paradigm can be clinically useful. How? Keep reading.

Immoronic: a combination of immorality and moronic. Examples are not hard to find in modern American culture, and they transcend any one political party or ideology.

In short, Epstein’s story was media catnip. Unfortunately, lost in all the sensational coverage of this one man was the systematic mistreatment of people with serious mental illness in the criminal justice system.

The current Tree of Medicine is rooted in its Hippocratic soil. There are moral absolutes that our profession should stand up for, in spite of legislative or popular pressure, say the authors.

Physician-assisted suicide violates the norms of Hippocratic medical ethics. Involuntary hospitalization to prevent suicide affirms those norms, according to the authors.

Is an ancient, conflict-loving personality archetype undermining our pro-social values?

A close analysis of the psychodynamics of Cain’s crime shows us something important about his mentality-not to be confused with mental illness.

Moving toward a bio-psycho-sociocultural model of major depression.

Between the extremes of priest and provider lies the healing heart of the physician.

With a combined 70+ years of clinical experience, the authors discuss scenarios that represent two possible outcomes of discontinuing serotonergic antidepressants.

Focusing on concerning behaviors may better assist with prevention than sensationalizing individual perpetrators’ motives.

“Even after the Pittsburgh shootings, our ability to empathize suggests otherwise,” writes Ronald W. Pies, MD, in a commentary regarding the nature and origin of hatred.

This is not yet another philosophical discourse arguing against physician-assisted suicide. This piece is about life with dignity-even amidst its raw and ravaging agonies.

The authors discuss two fundamental misconceptions: the myth of the patient’s autonomy, and the myth of the incurability of the patient’s illness.

The thorny issue of “end-of-life care” is likely to remain controversial in the US, with physicians themselves holding a wide variety of views.

Why aren’t we Americans as happy as we should be, given all the wonderful things we have in our lives?

Labeling a (clinically unexamined) public figure as "dangerous" can do as much or more harm as promulgating a specific psychiatric diagnosis.

Imagination and psychosis are different categories of experience, and should not be confused or conflated.

We can encourage more responsible media coverage of mass shootings in an effort to cut down on “copy-cat” killings. Here are 4 guidelines.

No, there is no generalized epidemic of mental illness in the US, nor credible evidence that psychiatric drugs are driving up rates or severity of mental illness. But there is an urgent need for more and better treatment of psychiatric disorders.

Six fundamental assumptions underlie the medical model most psychiatrists use in their clinical work.

There are no simple solutions to the plight of the terminally ill patient. With commentary by Cynthia Geppert, MD.