A study in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine:Comparison of the characteristics, morbidity, and mortality of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza:a nationwide, population-based retrospective cohort study [of more than 89,000 patients with COVID-19 and more than 45,000 patients wth influenza [the flu]] was published December 17, 2020, showed that the risk of death was 3 times higher for…

The above quote is attributed to Chief Seattle, although it is not certain. Another quote attributed to Chief Seattle is “This we know: We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” Another quote is: “This we know: all things are bound together! all thing connect.” Chief Seattle was…

Megan Brooks in the Vol. 49, No. 1, January, 2021 edition of Clinical Psychiatry News reported on studies indicating that middle-aged women with PTSD and comorbid depression are nearly four times more likelly to die from early death as are matched peers who do not have PTSD and comorbid depression. More severe symptoms led to…

In 2008 a law was passed that required parity in coverage so that coverage for mental health and substance abuse services had to be the same coverage as that for medical and surgical services. However, this law did not require.mental health and substance abuse services and there were other loop holes so that insurers could…

The statement that “this president makes us comfortable with our prejudices” is attributed to Rosalind Carter, the wife of former president Jimmy Carter and she was not referring to her husband. I feel that it is important because one way that a leader can get support for themselves is by giving us permission to not…

My family and I just experienced the loss of our dog, Lexi. About 11 years ago we agreed to bring her into our lives as she was a puppy who was chewing up our oldest daughter’s furniture after she had rescued Lexi from the shelter. Lexi became a very important part of our family, especially…

Many people have described the United States as driven by fear. That inspite of our power and influence in the world we seem to live in fear and instead of this joining all of us as we face our fears, instead our fear ends up separating us and this increases our fears. So, why are…

Previously I blogged about the stress relieving benefit of slow, even breathing. Since then it continues to come up directly or indirectly with different approaches to stress management. It is frequently referred to as “mindfulness.” This has been defined as consciousness without thought. I wonder if it may be better defined as a calm, alert…

Diagnosing bipolar depression vs unipolar depression [major depression] remains difficult. So why be concerned? Well, there is building evidence that taking antidepressants and having a mood swing to a manic or hypomanic mood is associated with a poorer prognosis that includes more depressive mood swings [rapid cycling?], not responding as well to mood stabilizing medications,…

In an earlier blog, “Risk of Suicide and of Suicide Attempts,” I described a study by Hart and Risley that followed 42 families for 3 1/2 years counting the number and nature of words directed to young children aged 7months to 2 1/2 years with the families divided into three groups identified as professional, working class and…