This Season of Transition

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

This video is being shown as a rerun once again. It parallels an annual transition of importance in the United States. For some parts, it is the beauty of fall foliage before the leaves drop off until next year. For others, it is the growing popularity of the tricks or treats of Halloween and the honoring of ancestors in the following Day of the Dead. For mental health, that means trying to transition personally for the better, providing treats of appreciation to the living and ancestors, and limiting scary tricks. We in psychiatry generally try to help our patients address all of these opportunities.

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.