March 21st, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Book Reviews, Health Tips, True Stories
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By Susan Biali, M.D.
Ten years ago, I was an emergency medicine resident and wanted to die. Today, I’m a general practitioner in part-time practice and in love with life. What made the difference? I signed up for a dance class.
Reports on physician burnout list the personality traits that set us up for trouble: we’re excessively conscientious, feel overly responsible, want to please everyone, and function on an extremely high level –- even if we’re overloaded, exhausted, or our personal life is falling apart. We burn out because we bend over backwards to help others, until something (like our minds or our health or our marriages) finally snaps. Now imagine this: what if we took some of that deep caring and hyper-responsibility, and turned it on ourselves?
When my depression hit bottom and I became a serious risk to myself and my patients, my chief resident asked me to take a stress leave. On impulse I went on a solo tropical vacation and one night at the resort, as I watched an exuberant group of salsa dancers burning up the stage, my eyes filled with tears. I suddenly remembered that when I was a little girl, I practiced incessantly in the basement to my ABBA records, preparing myself for the moment that I would live my dream and finally become a “Solid Gold Dancer.” That night, in that darkened tropical theater, I knew how I would save my life. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
February 17th, 2010 by Shadowfax in Better Health Network, True Stories
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Seems like I’ve been on a real run of chest pain patients lately. Which is fine — it’s part of the gig. I did have a very interesting pair the other night. They were seen in sequence, right next to one another, in room 7 and room 8. They were both totally healthy women in their mid-fifties. And they were both over-the-edge, crazy, crawling-out-of-the-gurney anxious.
Anxiety is an awful red herring in the work-up of chest pain. People who are having an anxiety attack often if not always manifest some chest pain (pressure, tightness, whatever) as a prominent symptom of their anxiety. On the other hand, someone having a heart attack who is experiencing chest pain will also be anxious — and for good reason! Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
December 19th, 2009 by Nancy Brown, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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Disorders like depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and bipolar disorder all have warning signs. If you are concerned about these signs in yourself or others, talk to a trusted adult and get help!
Clinical Depression
- Loss of appetite
- Insomnia and trouble sleeping almost every night
- Unable to focus on even simple activities
- Extremely low energy
- Loss of interest in things you normally enjoy Read more »
This post, Top Five Signs of Common Mental Health Conditions, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Nancy Brown, Ph.D..
November 9th, 2009 by Nancy Brown, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion
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My heart is going out to teens these days, especially in my high-achieving community. It seems school districts and parents alike have lost the sense that “average” is really OK, and in some cases, much healthier than “above average.”
An emotional goal of adolescence is to answer the question “who am I” acquiring self-certainty as opposed to self-consciousness and self-doubt. Most teens approach life expecting to succeed and achieve their goals rather than being paralyzed by feelings of inferiority. On a normal path, adolescents seek out people who inspire them and gradually develop a set of ideals and goals for their future. This is all perfectly normal, and if all goes well, teens become young women and young men who believe they can do whatever they set their minds to and are willing to work hard enough for. This process gets stunted if the expectations set for them are unreasonable. Read more »
This post, All Teens Under Pressure To Be Above Average, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Nancy Brown, Ph.D..
