Loving Thy Neighbor in Psychiatry

This video series is taking a short break while Dr Moffic travels. For now, enjoy the rerun of this video with updated commentary.

A very well-known New Testament commandment is “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” Perhaps that is getting harder and harder to do as conflict among personal and national neighbors has been increasing over the past year. Yet, we also know that compassion, respect, and concern for the other is worth trying to head off worse interpersonal violence. We also understand the hidden obstacles, such as the difficulty in loving others if one does not love oneself very much. Here is where psychiatry meets religion most importantly. Our collaboration with clergy could not be more relevant now.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.