Time and Psychiatry

Psychiatry & Society

H. Steven Moffic, MD, evaluates the important resource of time in this week’s video.

Time was relevant this week in several news stories:

• Trial for the Uvalde police, who entered the active shooting situation too late
• Renee Nicole Good, who was killed by an ICE officer, in a split-second decision
• The relevant last minutes of sports games, including in the NFL Playoffs

How does time affect patients with mental health disorders? Moffic recalls his own experiences, and how time impacted his experiences as a clinician, particularly how time with patients gets cut down.

“Time moves on, even though it is an artificial construct. It really affects what we do, and in many ways, life depends upon it,” said Moffic. “So my hope is that you are able to spend your time well, both with patients and in your personal life.”

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.