In the late 1950s, toward the end of her life, psychiatrist Frieda Fromm Reichmann sat by a catatonic patient in the hospital. Inspired by an unexplainable hunch, she asked how lonely the patient was. The young woman raised her hand with her thumb extended and the rest of the fingers folded under. Dr. Fromm-Reichmann, an […]
A phase 3 study of psychotherapy with the addition of MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine) shows that inclusion of this psychedelic compound can markedly reduce the symptom burden of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and improve quality of life, compared with psychotherapy plus a placebo. The study, hailed as a landmark on the long road toward legitimizing medical use […]
The D’Addario musical accessories company has been through many ups and downs since its founder Carmine D’Addario (aka Charles) emigrated to Astoria, New York, in 1905, and began making sheep gut guitar strings in a shop behind his house. But in 4 generations, the company had never ceased operations completely. Then COVID-19 hit the US. […]
We doctors spend years training to take care of patients, but we get little if any financial education. There is no financial planning or tax strategy rotation in residency. But there should be, because far too many of us discover later on in our careers that not only are we losing sleep over our patients, […]
March 2020 changed our lives forever. In a blink of an eye, our hugs and social routines, our business travel and vacations were taken from us. Almost overnight, the world shut down, filled with fear of the unknown, fear of sickness, fear of interaction. Digital meetings replaced social gatherings and conferences. Online classrooms replaced schools. […]
On October 15, 2000, the first edition of Holistic Primary Care rolled off the presses at Democrat Printing & Lithography in Little Rock, Arkansas, and into 60,000 doctors’ offices across the country. An I had back in 1986 had suddenly become a tangible reality, giving voice to a movement aimed at transforming American healthcare. It […]
For decades, the United States has failed to invest in primary care. The result is a situation that has sorely compromised the health and well-being of patients and practitioners alike. Though it consistently accounts for 50% of all annual medical visits, primary care represents less than 7% of the nation’s total healthcare expenditures, and receives […]
After decades on the margins of both polite society and medical research, psychotropic compounds such as psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, and the like, are once again the focus of serious clinical investigation as potential therapies for a host of psychological and neurological conditions. In his newest book, How to Change Your Mind, popular author explores the resurgence of psychedelic medicine without bias, agenda, or pretense.
Anthropologist Janelle Taylor got it right when she observed that, “Physicians’ medical knowledge is no less cultural for being real, just as patients’ lived experiences and perspectives are no less real for being cultural.”
More than ten years on, her essay, Confronting ‘Culture’ in Medicine’s ‘Culture of No Culture’ (Acad. Med. 2003;78:555–559), remains one of the most penetrating analyses of one of healthcare’s most challenging issues: practitioner bias and how it affects patient outcomes.
The holistic/integrative medical community lost one of its leading lights, with the passing of Dr. Lee Lipsenthal on Sept. 20 at the age of 54. Clinician, pioneer, educator, agitator, rock & roller…..Lee was a loving and beloved man whose passion to help others, whose love of life, whose venturesome spirit touched and transformed many peoples’ lives. A dedicated husband, father and friend, Lee spent decades teaching all those around him how to live with vigor. In his passing, he’s taught us how to die with grace.
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