Difficult Interactions (III).
(Note: If you found the previous posts in this series “woo woo”, you might find this one nearly intolerable.) A final reason to stop talking in the midst of a difficult clinical interaction is so you...
View ArticleI Remember.
I remember when we dragged ourselves to the large lecture hall every morning, backpacks slung over our shoulders and cups of coffee in our hands. Six to eight hours of lectures awaited us. I remember...
View ArticleInvoluntary Commitment (I).
It’s winter in New York City. The temperature is hovering around 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Large, slushy snowflakes are falling from the pewter sky. You are already familiar with this woman; you had met...
View ArticleInvoluntary Commitment (II).
His sister helped him move into the apartment about three months ago. She told you that he has a long history with the mental health system: His first hospitalization, which was over six months long,...
View ArticleWanna join my DSM-5 e-mail list?
I’ve finally started to read DSM-5, the most recent iteration of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. I intend to summarize germane information for co-workers, though I also said:...
View ArticleInvoluntary Commitment (III).
“What should we do?” the outreach worker asks. “He slapped a woman at the laundromat yesterday.” The police know him well. For at least ten years, he, along with a cadre of other homeless individuals,...
View ArticleInvoluntary Commitment (IV).
Involuntary commitment refers to hospitalizing people against their will for psychiatric reasons. It is a controversial topic because this is where medicine and civil liberties intersect: Physicians...
View ArticleDSM-5: Schizophrenia.
This post is directly from my DSM-5 e-mail list. If you find the information below useful or interesting, you are welcome to join. (670 words = 5 min read) The diagnosis of schizophrenia has expanded...
View ArticleInvoluntary Commitment (V).
Recall that the first scenario described a homeless woman who did not seem inclined to move to shelter despite the forecast of a heavy snowstorm. How would you apply involuntary commitment criteria? 1....
View ArticleInvoluntary Commitment (VI).
Recall in the second scenario the man who was throwing his furniture out of his apartment due to concerns that someone or something was trying to take over his room. How would you apply involuntary...
View ArticleA Dream.
A few days before I learned what happened, I had a dream about you. When I awoke, my heart felt like a bird flapping its wings inside the cage of my ribs. The details had vanished. Only anxiety...
View ArticleOn Being a Person.
Upon looking at me, there’s no doubt about it: I am Asian. My ethnicity occasionally becomes a topic of conversation with patients. Some immediately ask me, “Yang… that’s Chinese, right?” Others take a...
View Article12 Hours.
He sat in the chair and swung his legs out every few minutes, though he never stood up. He had not stood up for over 12 hours. His calloused fingers picked at the hems of his jeans. He dug a thumbnail...
View ArticleBoundaries.
A bus approached the curb and I looked up from my book. It took me a few seconds to realize that he was talking to me. “Dr. Chang? No, Dr. Wang. It’s Dr. Wang, right?” he called. He slowed the pace of...
View ArticleCommercial Sexual Exploitation.
I recently attended a presentation given by one of the founders of The Organization for Prostitution Survivors (OPS). If you or your organization want to hear a compelling, educational, and thoughtful...
View ArticleTools I Regularly Use and Recommend.
Because I’m apparently not taking sufficient care of the Muse these days, I don’t have fresh stories to share right now. Thus, I instead present to you the tools I use to write and organize my ideas,...
View ArticleCereal.
She thought that her mother’s pain pills along with a bottle of wine would do it. Soon after her last gulp of the merlot, she felt queasy and dizzy. The vomit that spilled from her mouth twenty minutes...
View ArticleWhat is a Hospital?
So what is a hospital? (Just work with me here.) Hospitals are physical structures. They are buildings that have rooms and beds. People, who become “patients”, are “admitted” into a hospital and...
View ArticleWho Works at a Hospital?
Who works at a hospital? (Again, just indulge me for now.) Doctors. If you’re a patient at a teaching hospital, this includes medical students (people in school to become doctors), interns and...
View ArticleEver Seen a Hospital Orientation?
Perhaps more important than the actual “rules” of hospitals is how these “rules” are communicated to patients. Medical students spend two years training in a hospital before they work as physicians. It...
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