The following books, websites, and journal articles have been published by others (journalists, teachers, physicians, and scientists) and are included here because I found them interesting & applicable to the clinical care of my patients.
Books of interest
Read Chasing the Scream by Johan Hari, the basis of the above video, “Addiction” by Kurzgesagt.
Briefly: Punishment is a reaction that historically adds to deaths of despair including overdose and suicide. Replacing punishment with compassion and support helps people survive and heal through traumas that have been fueling addictions.
HarmReduction.org
What is Harm Reduction?
Read Loving What Is by Byron Katie, a modern Socrates.
Briefly: Questioning our thoughts offers clarity, allowing meaning to be derived from living.
Read No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz, Ph.D., creator of Internal Family Systems therapy.
Briefly: When we punish our inner parts, we transform these parts from heroes into monsters. Dr. Schwartz guides us in holding, understanding and appreciating our inner monsters, so they can transform into the heroes they intended to be.
Read In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté, M.D.
Briefly: Surviving the holocaust as an infant in Hungary, Dr. Maté shares his and his patients’ humanity at a harm reduction facility in Canada.
Read The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
Briefly: Modern labels for mental illness and addiction perpetuate ignorance of the causes. Physical, emotional, sexual, combat and other traumas, especially those occurring during development, make deep impressions on us, as deeply as how our genes are stored in every cell of our bodies. Seeing trauma as a major factor in physical and mental illness is an important step in preventing, understanding and healing ourselves and our cultures.
learning resources
Struggling to process helpful information from misinformation or disinformation? Check Dr. Wilson’s “Debunk the Funk”.
Take a course or tutor a student from pre-K through 12th grade advanced placement courses for free at Khan Academy.
Take courses from MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Georgetown, Tennessee and other universities for free at EdX.
Review peer reviewed published literature in the National Library of Medicine and with Google Scholar
Listen to or watch the latest episode of This Week in Virology, and read along with links to the latest journal articles. Or tune in to any of Microbe.TV’s “Science Shows by Scientists” to learn about your immune and nervous systems, evolution, microbiology, parasitism, agriculture, engineering, public health and more!
Take a free virology course.
Search COVID 19 randomized controlled trials by medication or therapy
Follow the latest evidence about managing long COVID (PASC or post-acute sequelae of COVID)
Journal articles of interest
Clinical comments: this randomized controlled trial (RTC) shows a very specific gut microbe, Limosilactobacillus (L.) reuteri (formerly Lactobacillus reuteri) improves social behavior & function in people with autism but does not affect the severity of autism.
Clinical comments: several different phenotypes of PASC exist and benefit from tailored management. FDA approved therapeutics like nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) and vaccines (even after infection) can prevent and reduce symptoms of long COVID.
Clinical comments: As medical doctors, psychiatrists often diagnose and treat medical illnesses outside our areas of expertise (like diabetes & hypertension) and refer patients to primary care and specialists to fine-tune the diagnosis and treatment plan. In herpes simplex virus (HSV), a virus that more than half of us carry, brain infection (HSV encephalitis) is associated with one of the many pathways that lead to Alzheimer Disease (AD), namely phosphorylation of the tau protein. As psychiatrists, let us consider diagnosing and treating our patients that have recurrent HSV infections with an FDA approved medication like valacyclovir.