Posts

Magnum Opus

Shadow Work: Pillars of Disgust

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  Hey team, I have been thinking a lot about disgust recently as that is the core feeling I align with when observing and reflecting on certain behaviors of others, and myself, that truly remind me of a striking lack of maturity and where I believe psychological stagnation lies. Though these traits are subjective to me, I also believe that they would be hard to defend as pillars of healthy, mindful, role-model behavior and often are the opposite types of behavior of the people we view as traditionally virtuous and well (healthy and happy). This is part of my own shadow. The shadow isn’t necessarily evil but rather the antithesis to the virtuous traits we attach to and present to the world, so if feeling that these traits are NOT me they indeed are, they are just the qualities that lay hidden from the surface, waiting for the everything to fall into place to blossom them (manifestation of disgust) to existence. This is likely why it is easier to see in others, or even my past self, ...
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NEW WEBSITE

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 I have now moved my blog and all my posts to Wordpress at https://mindfulnessmedication.wordpress.com/   It will be a work in progress but I hope to create a prettier blog that is more fun! Same great content as always 
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The Power of Expectancy in Healthcare

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  Hey team, Lately, I’ve been deep into behavioral economics, especially the work of Daniel Kahneman, which highlights the consistent irrationalities in human decision-making. These patterns, while irrational, are often predictable, and nowhere are they more visible (or more costly) than in healthcare. My interest in this stems from a broader curiosity about human behavior, how we often make decisions that seem illogical on the surface, yet follow systematic patterns that can be understood, anticipated, and even shaped to support better outcomes. Today, I want to explore one piece of that puzzle: expectancy. Specifically, how it shapes our experience of medical treatment, including both its beneficial effects and trade-offs. I'll be organizing this around four key questions: ...
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We’re Not Rational: Prospect Theory in Everyday Healthcare Decisions

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  Healthcare is full of decisions, but if we think we’re making them rationally, we’re fooling ourselves. Humans are capable of great rationality, as demonstrated by progress in nearly every facet of life , yet we are predominantly irrational far more of the time. We fall into simple traps guided by gut feelings, group affiliation, inertia, and other cognitive shortcuts. After all, carefully weighing every option for potential benefit and harm is not only impractical — it's exhausting. We humans are seldom pure rational actors. Here, I want to briefly lay out Prospect Theory as an alternative model to the traditional “rational choice” view, and show how it directly applies to healthcare. Among its key ideas: we fear losses more than we value gains, we distort probabilities, and we judge outcomes relative to a reference point, not in absolute terms. That’s why gaining ...
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Framing: What You Emphasize is What They Hear

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  Framing is the phenomenon where our perception of a choice changes depending on how the information is presented, even when the underlying facts are the same. Imagine a new drug for hypertension. In clinical trials, it lowered blood pressure to a healthy level in 90% of patients. We could say: "This drug is 90% effective!" and it would be seen as a triumph. But we could just as accurately say: "It fails to work in 1 out of every 10 patients." Suddenly, that same drug seems a little less impressive. Nothing about the data changed—only the story around it. This effect extends well beyond numbers. Take side effects: we could frame them as "most people experience none," or as "a significant minority do." Both are technically true. But the emotional and clinical weight those statements carry i...
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Easy to start hard to stop: our approach to mitigate antidepressant withdrawal

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  I am beyond happy and extremely grateful for my recent teams victory of the ACCP clinical research challenge. Beyond our win I care far more about the real problem we sought to address. This project started with my own passion for psychiatry, including the complexities of not only psychopharmacologic modalities of care, but the nuances I'm doing it right. Like a growing number of people, especially young adults, I was once prescribed antidepressants. When the time came to discontinue them under my provider’s guidance, I faced severe withdrawal symptoms that lasted for months. It was one of the most painful experiences of my life, and, critically, I’m far from alone. Antidepressants remain among the most commonly prescribed drug classes worldwide, a trend that continues to rise, especially among younger populations. In...
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The Misplaced Faith in Nurture

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 The nature vs. nurture debate persists in the public imagination as if it were an eternal philosophical puzzle driven by my misconstrued feelings. However, the scientific reality is clear: genes are the dominant, systematic force shaping who we are. Of course, the environment (ex. nurture) plays a role, but its influence is instead minor, inconsistent, and often overstated when discussing personality, intelligence achievement, or life outcomes like career success and health. I hope to demonstrate this truth and allow you to see the ridiculousness in giving nature and nurture equal weight as if it were that simple.     To start genes are segments of DNA coding for proteins or regulating their production, serving as biological instructions for building and maintaining the body. A common misconception is the idea of a single "gene for" complex traits like intelligence or depression. Genetic influence is far messier, operating through pleiotropy (one gene affecting mult...
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Pharmacotherapy of Bipolar Treatment

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 Hey team! Today I’ll be breaking down the pharmacotherapy of bipolar disorder—including the pharmacology behind the medications we use and why certain ones are preferred over others. My goal is to help you no understand the why, the how, and the watch-outs behind the drug choices. I was listening to a podcast recently on bipolar treatment and came across a simple mnemonic to organize the different classes of drugs we pull from: “The 4 Ls” — lithium, lamictal, lumateperone, and lexapro. It's not perfect, but it gives us a helpful framework. Lithium stands alone in its class, while Lamictal represents the antiepileptic mood stabilizers, Lumateperone stands in for the atypical antipsychotics, and Lexapro reminds us of the antidepressants—though we'll get to why those are controversial in bipolar treatment. Let’s start with lithium, which I like to think of as the grandpa who refuses to retire. He’s old, he’s scary but incredibly good at his job—and has more evidence behind him th...
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