Dr. Payton

From the Harvard Public Health magazine of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health report on “Guns and Suicide…the hidden toll” by Madeline Drexler, Editor of Harvard Public Health magazine. Ms. Drexler summarizes data on the association of suicide and gun ownership.  She reports that many more people kill themselves with guns [19,392 in…

Recently one of my patients came in and announced that “I don’t care and I don’t care that I don’t care.”  She said that she realized this just the day before.  She reflected on this and indicated that it was a relief not to care.  She feels less stressed and yet still feels responsible for…

There is research evidence [Kelleher et.al; American Journal of Psychiatry Vol 70: Issue 7: Pages. 734-741]that adolescents who are assaulted or bullied are significantly more likely to experience psychotic symptoms. They also noted that adolescents with psychotic symptoms were significantly more likely to be assaulted and more likely to be bullied.  So, they found a…

Many of us [all of us?] have experienced a time when we want to change what we are doing but don’t seem to be able to change our behaviors or thoughts. It can feel like our brain’s are working against us…therefore the question of “whose side our brain’s are on.”  So what is up with…

I think that the joke ends with “just one, but the lightbulb really has to want to change.”  Get it?  I actually do not recall what the joke was supposed to be.  I recall it now because I believe that it contains an important truth.  When we are offering our medical skills to help another…

So where does the saying “ignorance is bliss” come from? The internet tells me that it comes from Thomas Gray’s poem “On A Distant Prospect on Eton College” with the line stating: “Where ignorance is bliss / tis folly to be wise.”  Now, ignorance means a lack of knowledge, eduction or awareness. [Merriam-Webster]. One implication…

So what is wrong with enabling others? What is enabling others? In my experience with my patients, enabling seems to be when someone takes on responsibility for others and this then makes it easier for [enables] them to avoid being responsible for themselves. The contexts for what is considered enabling is important as I have…

Is it fair or reasonable to judge what we do or say by the standard of whether or not it was based on love for the other?  How would that work?  Would we be able to say anything? Maybe the problem is the definition of love.  Love is…”an intense feeling of affection, fondness, tenderness, attachment,…

Regarding our relationship to God, I have often wondered about what we ask for and why we seem to ask for what we already have, or at least are freely given.  I first thought about this when I became aware of how often Christian religions encourage their congregations to say prayers that ask for things that…

I thought about this old saying recently in light of recent events that have caused a lot of people to feel anxious when watching or listening to the news.  I try to help people who come to me to let go of their worries about things that they hear on the news and often will…