Dr. Payton

I was listening to a TED talk by Anne Lamott [from June, 2017] and she mentioned that “there is almost nothing outside of you that will help in a lasting way.”  Ms. Lamott believes that “it’s an inside job.” We are responsible for helping ourselves in lasting ways. This idea is complemented by her other…

The first amendment to our constitution prohibits the making of any law abridging the freedom of speech.  The supreme court has clarified the extent of the protection for free speech.  This applies only to speech against the government and more recently has been broadened to allow for more political dissent.  Of significance lately is concern…

A few years ago as part of a course that focused on spiritual journey’s, I watched a short film called “The Butterfly Circus.” The film is about encouraging people to believe in themselves and take responsibility for themselves. It is not about enabling people by acting like they can’t do things themselves. The circus performers…

These are three things that the leader of the “Butterfly Circus” said to the limbless man.  I have recently blogged again about this wonderful short film called “Butterfly Circus.” I was discussing this film with some of my patients who had watched it, at my encouragement. We discussed the statement “of course you have an…

The nocebo effect is the opposite of a placebo effect, so it is a negative response to a sham treatment where the person believes that they are getting the treatment but actually are not. What is amazing is how powerful expectations and outlook are as the placebo response is often close to that for those…

I have recently been thinking about the idea that wisdom is connected to knowing that we don’t know anything. I was aware of this idea from reading that after Socrates was called the wisest person in ancient Greece he at first doubted this until he realized that his wisdom was because he knew that he…

I’ve had several patients tell me that they couldn’t forgive people who had abused them but they were no longer troubled by thinking about them. Then a few other patients told me that they were finally able to forgive their abusers and felt more at peace about it now.  So, do we need to forgive…

We own more than 310 million guns [2009 National Institute of Justice report]. This is the most of any nation in the world with India coming in second with an estimated 46 million guns. So, we have more than seven times the number of guns compared to the second place country. We are also the…

In a guest column in the November 5, 2017 edition of the Asheville Citizen Times by Marsha Fretwell, M.D., she has concluded that she might be the last happy doctor.  This is because she had practiced as a geriatrician and thus had only Medicare to interact with as more than 96% of her patients were…

People who threaten others should not have access to weapons. As long as we continue to be obsessed with owning guns, even with the evidence that easy access to guns leads to deaths of many innocent people, it is critical that we put safeguards in place to protect innocent people from potentially dangerous people. The…