Dr. Payton

Over the past several months I have helped a number of people who have had traumatic experiences that keep bothering them even after they are no longer exposed to the traumatic situation[s]. They report becoming very anxious very rapidly when anything reminds them of the traumatic events. They often have develped a number of good…

Taming is a reference to what the fox is teaching the little prince in the book by Saint Exupery called The Little Prince. In this book the fox is helping the Prince to understand what it means to care about others that the fox calls “taming” others. The Prince learns that because he cares for and loves…

Bipolar II disorder [I will refer to this as BP2 for rest of blog] made the news when it was reported that the actress Catherine Zeta-Jones was given this diagnosis. Most people are aware of bipolar I disorder [BP1] yet BP2 is more prevalent and has significant levels of morbidity [the impact of the illness…

As i was watching a TV special entitled “the 1619 project” [1619 is the first year that slaves were brought to America] it became clearer to me what is meant by the message that African Americans who were enslaved were protecting our democratic form of government when they challenged every attempt to undermine our democracy…

Jason Fletcher from the Yale School of Public Health published a study showing some of the economic impact of childhood ADD/ADHD on the adult labor market. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Dr. Fletcher shows that employment is reduced by 10-14%, earnings are reduced by one third and the need for…

I was reading Arthur The Seeing Stone, by Kevin Crossley-Holland and one of the characters [protrayed as Merlin] mentioned that “Doubt is like rust which corrodes metal. It travels from your brain into your body and eats you away.” Then alittle later another quote referring to doubt was “Nothing comes of doubt, except inaction and…

I listened to a Podcast from “OnBeing” guided by Krista Tippet as she interviewed Vivek Murthy who is the Surgeon General of the United States. The focus of the podcast was on how to “Be A Healer.” It was very moving as Dr. Murthy’s compassion and love for others came through as he discussed healing…

It took me awhile to learn what TMI meant even though I work with a lot of people who seem to be burdened by knowing too much about others. I have come to see that their feeling burdened is related to their feeling and acting responsible for others. This “responsibility” is a burden because even…

Suicide is a leading cause of death for adolescents. A recent article in JAMA Psychiatry by Nock, Ph.D.,et. al. decribes research investigating what factors lead to suicidal behavior in adolescents. Lifetime rates of: suicidal thoughts = 12%; suicidal plan = 4%; suicidal attempts = 4%. Importantly, 60% of adolescents who are suicidal with a plan,…

A number of behaviors that are frequently found associated with people who have ADHD, seem to be coping strategies. Thus these behaviors help to reduce stress associated with ADHD even though they may appear to be symptoms of the disorder and a part of the problem. One behavior is procrastination. Deadline pressure seems to help…