Human nature
Labels are handles on reality
It’s my job to label people—not how I like to think about it, but I can’t deny people see it that way. So how do we label better?
Mental illness
Mental illness
Anxiety disorders: Alarms gone wrong
If you think of anxiety as an alarm system I was recently trying to explain to a patient about the panic attacks they were having and to help them understand what the issue was without making them feel like I was saying, “It’s all in your head.” (Which she
Mental illness
We worry too much about violence from people with mental illness…
…and not nearly enough about violence TO them. In years of work I haven’t been attacked even once. But I know several colleagues who’ve been attacked by—wait for it—patient relatives. Why are we so focused on the wrong end?
Healthcare
If you’re getting mental healthcare, I beg you: don’t stop your appointments
It’s for your own good, especially if medication is part of your care. I see this too often, and it’s heartbreaking and a bad idea. And stopping because you’re doing great reveals a common misconception about how mental healthcare works.
Mental illness
The Story-View Manifesto: It's time to own your story
You're a storyteller. You may not feel like it or think about it, but that's because it's so ingrained into who you are, into your very DNA, that you don't have to be conscious of it. Like your eyes, you see things
Mental illness
FRSC Nigeria wants to reverse Nigeria, mental health-wise
We need to stop them before they go further So here’s the latest on Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC Nigeria) and their poorly thought out and potentially harmful plan for motorists, which I’m going to try to show as dangerous and worthy to be scrapped post-haste.
Christianity
I’m Christian and I don’t believe mental illness is “spiritual”
(Except we can agree malaria and measles are, too.) On October 30, 2016, a prominent and otherwise widely respected Nigerian pastor tweeted: “The root cause of mental illness is Sin (Rom 6:23) and the foundational solution to mental health is Salvation.” Let’s just say the tweet ended up
Mental illness
Professional opinions on Trump’s mental health are a bad idea
And I don’t even like Trump So yesterday, this happened.[embed]https://www.statnews.com/2017/07/25/psychiatry-goldwater-rule-trump/[/embed] Yep. The American Psychoanalyst Association (APsA—not to be confused with the APA—American Psychiatric Association) yesterday relieved its members of what’s known as “the Goldwater rule” against
Christianity
What if supernatural miracles matter less than natural means?
The title isn’t just clickbait, just so you know. I’m totally serious. And if you’ll just hear me out, I’m fully prepared to explain myself. I’ve always been fascinated by the intersection between faith and science, because in a sense I’ve always lived on
Mental illness
3 things mental illness and cancer share in common
In commemoration of World Cancer Day 2017 The first time someone I knew had cancer, I didn’t even know that was what it was. I was not yet 10, and all I knew that my close friend had lost his father over the course of a protracted illness to
Communication
Newsflash: mental health reporting sucks
But it can be fixed. Here’s how. I’m tired. Tired of waking up to news reports that include terms like this… Just in case you have any trouble with the images, worry not, as I intend to break them down further anyway. Pulse.ng informed us of… “A
Healthcare
Public psychiatric hospitals and services in Nigeria
A lot of people ask me about where they can get psychiatric services in Nigeria, and I've been meaning to make a list for a long time. And now, here it is. But first, a few things. 1. First, allow me to give you a brief history of