Of Not Passing: Homelessness, Addiction, Mental Health and Care During Covid-19

Article Summary by Johannes Lenhard, Meg Margetts and Eana Meng People experiencing homelessness in the UK were unexpectedly and unconditionally offered housing (and support) from the beginning of the first lockdown in March 2020. For many, that meant ‘(re)entering’ the support system and having a chance to ‘move on’ to longer-term housing. This beneficial effect […]

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Understanding the Complexities of Dementia: A Personal and Scientific Journey

Book Review by Agustin Ibanez Cindy Weinstein, Bruce L. Miller. Finding the Right Words: A Story of Literature, Grief, and the Brain. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021. 216 pp. ISBN 978-1421441269. In the summer of 2010, I moved to a beautiful apartment in the affluent Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. I was hoping […]

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Bharatanatyam in Creative Aging

Blog by Sloka S. Iyengar PhD, PMP In the relatively new field of “creative aging,” older adults participate in pursuits such as painting, drawing, knitting, writing, music, and dance. Creative aging programs aim to engage seniors in activities that promote resilience and plasticity. Some programs cater to specific populations, e.g., those with Parkinson’s Disease,1 whereas […]

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Shame in Medicine: The Lost Forest

Podcast with Luna Dolezal and Emily Silverman   In today’s podcast, we look at the lasting consequences of shame in Medicine with Nocturnist creator Emily Silverman and Professor Luna Dolezal. Emily Silverman, MD is an internal medicine physician in San Francisco, Assistant Volunteer Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and […]

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An Ancient Malady

Book Review by Samuel Freeman Carl Erik Fisher, The Urge: Our History of Addiction (New York: Penguin Press, 2022). ISBN 978-0525561446. Carl Erik Fisher’s use of alcohol and drugs nearly ended his burgeoning career when he was a psychiatrist in training. In The Urge: Our History of Addiction, Fisher, a psychiatrist, bioethicist, and addiction specialist […]

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A Commentary on Traumatic Events – Medical Training in the Wake of 2020

Blog by Lisa P. Michelson, M.A., M.Phys., and Sara J. King, B.S. Acknowledgements: Aaron Fox, Quinta Fernandes, Santiago Bejarano Hernandez “You – hold pressure on the thigh wound!” “Peds Surg is on their way!” “Placing a second IV.” “How much Morphine has he gotten?” “Can someone distract him with his bear?” These are the voices […]

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Listen to Me

Film Review by Robert Abrams Buzz (short film, Sudan 2022, directed by Mohamed Fawi, produced by Amjad Abu Alala, distributed by Mad Solutions), world Premiere at the 2022 Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) Buzz, a new short film created by the visionary director Mohamed Fawi, presents, in just under 20 minutes, several different themes that […]

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We Are Trying to Put the Humanity Back Into Medicine … So, Why Do We Keep Removing It?

By Meagan Brennan   The focus on patient-centred care has prompted physicians to consider how to better centre the human experience in healthcare. Most patient-centred initiatives ask, “How can we put the humanity back into our medical practice?” Perhaps a better question is “Why did we remove it at all?” Instead of trying to foster […]

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Sedated: How Modern Capitalism Created Our Mental Health Crisis

Book Review by Laura Grace Simpkins James Davies. Atlantic Books, 2021. 9781786499875. More than 20 per cent of adults take a psychiatric drug each year in Britain alone–over a 500 per cent increase since 1980. Despite this ‘prescription epidemic’, the prevalence of mental illnesses, from the least to most severe, has simultaneously risen. Many of […]

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