Dr. Payton

I recently attended a memorial service for a friend of mine. During the service, my friend was repeatedly described as having character and being very generous. He did not need to have credit for what he achieved over his lifetime as he was happy to have others get this recognition. Someone else, in describing my…

I have previously written about the fact that we are not statistics and that any one individual may not fit where most people [statistically about 68%] can be grouped when making diagnostic and treatment decisions. It is clear that 32% of people fall outside one standard deviation from the mean and may not fit diagnoses…

It has become very clear how damaging chronic stress is for our bodies and our minds. It is also becoming clearer how many children are traumatized by different types of events and suffer from chronic stress. TF-CBT was developed to specifically treat symptoms of chronic stress [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)]. This has been adapted…

Over the past several weeks the topic of listening has come up in my work. Often, the importance of listening or being listened to is not recognized. Frequently, people are upset because they don’t know what to do to help people who are distressed. They want to do something to help these people who are…

There has been a lot written recently about the placebo effect and how it shows that medications are ineffective because they are not more effective than placebo. In these studies, the placebo response is often in the 30-50% range as is the response to the active treatment being studied. Placebo controlled studies are ones where…

I recently took care of an adolescent boy in the hospital who had severe anger control problems and had become suicidal. He was hurting himself as he hit things and broke things instead of hitting people. He also was very impulsive and driving recklessly. He would become stuck on one thing and not be able…

The title is a quote from a Louise Penny novel and she entitles it as “the four sayings that lead to wisdom.” She includes this in her book Kingdom of the Blind as something that her main character Inspector Gamache learned when he was young. Louise Penny is a Canadian mystery writer who has won a number…

“I was there I remember it all too well” is a lyric from a Taylor Swift song “All Too Well” that seems to validate what she experienced in a relationship…does she need to validate herself? I don’t believe that anyone needs to validate themselves through some one else. So why do we do this? What…

The above is from the movie “Shaw Shank Redemption” in a letter written by Andy to Red encouraging Red to not give up and to join Andy after Red is paroled. And Red does just that. So, is that statement true. Is hope the best of things and will it never die? How is that…

The title refers to a quote from Thomas Jefferson about people who do not take responsibility for themselves and are thus like pick pockets are robbing others. The quote is referring to freedom of religion as an example of something that does not injure anyone when someone expresses their religious preference. “It neither picks your…