Dr. Payton

Many people did not think that Airbnb woud be successful in getting people to rent their private homes or apartments, etc. to strangers.  Yet they report having more than 500,000 people willing to do this and more than ten million strangers renting  from them.  People are also exchanging items [like tools, cars, apartments, homes, etc.]…

A recent article by Ronald Pies, M.D. published in the February 2014, Vol XXXI, No2 issue of the Psychiatric Times was entitled: “Is Suicide Immoral?” Dr. Pies reflects on his own and his families experience with the suicide of his uncle. Dr. Pies describes the longstanding impact that the suicide had on his family and…

I was listening to a young woman talk about a recent argument with her boyfriend that she could not stop thinking about.   I recalled a story that I had read about two monks walking down a muddy road when they saw a woman dressed very nicely on the side of the road.  Her clothes…

I recently read an opinion editorial from the July 20,2014 New York Times by Arthur Brooks who is President of the American Enterprise Institute.   Mr. Brooks wrote about ways to achieve happiness and what can get in the way of this.  He rules out wealth, fame, power as ways to happiness and even indicates…

I have already blogged about changing driving speeds in my former neighborhood in the blog entitled: It Takes A Neighborhood To Change A Speed Limit.”  In that blog I recalled an experience getting a speed limit lowered as I was told by the traffic engineer to first get my neighbors to drive slower and then…

To be liked or unliked, that is the question.  Please forgive my paraphrasing a line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet as I am refering to choices that exist on Facebook.  There is more attention being given to the possible impact of Facebook and other similar social apps on human relationships.  Facebook has been criticized for seeking “likes”…

An article by Robert I Simon, M.D. in Current Psychiatry, Vol 13, No 3, March 2014, talks about passive suicidal ideation and feels that active suicidal ideation [a plan] is also present. Dr. Simon believes that there is always a continuum of severity of thoughts and feelings and indicates changes in the patient’s psychiatric disorder.…

I have previously blogged about grief and wondered if our ability to reach a level of acceptance about our loss is important as the acceptance will keep us from continuing to experience the absence of our loved one.  This continued feeling of loss can occupy our brains and keep us stuck in the past.  So,…

I have continued to wonder about why grief is often so crippling and difficult to resolve. It seems that many people get stuck focused on past memories of the loved one who has died.  I keep wondering why the memories have to be so painful.  As I thought about this I remembered that I have…

A recent JAMA[2014;311(12):1218-1224] study by Kypros Kypri, Ph.D. et al that used an internet based screening for alcohol abuse followed by random assignment to a brief intervention or no intervention. Those who screened positive for alcohol abuse [Alcohol Use Disorders Identifying Test AUDIT-C score > 4] either got only the screening or also 10 minutes…