Wanted to get high. Just wanted to. To get a mini vacation. Just wanted to checkout. Needed a reward. Out of anger. Out of frustration. Works hard and deserves it. Thought I could have just one. Everyone else was doing it. (more…) Learn More

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment Today I want to thoroughly explain obsessive compulsive disorder, because it is a seriously life altering condition that is frequently misunderstood. We have all heard people refer to friends or family as “OCD” in a joking manner. An example may be if you’re at a party at a friend’s house and the second someone puts their drink on the...

This week, I could write a blog on the psychosocial ramifications of long term isolation, or the effects of fear of contracting coronavirus on people with anxiety disorder, or tips on how to ride this pandemic out. I could do any and all of that, but to be honest, I’m over it. I’m burned out, people. So, this week, the goal for this blog is not to educate you, not to give you tips about taking...

As a psychiatrist practicing in Palm Beach Florida, I come across a lot of bipolar patients.  What are the warning signs of bipolar disorder? How can you recognize if someone you love or even yourself has bipolar disorder? You can’t get through an hour television program without at least 2 commercials for bipolar medications, so I thought it would be a good idea to talk about it.  First, what is...

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment Today I want to thoroughly explain obsessive compulsive disorder, because it is a seriously life altering condition that is frequently misunderstood. We have all heard people refer to friends or family as “OCD” in a joking manner. An example may be if you’re at a party at a friend’s house and the second someone puts their drink on the...

THIS JUST IN! 24/7 NEWS CAUSES ANXIETY!  READ ALL ABOUT IT! I remember when I was a kid, my family used to eat dinner after the news. The news used to be thirty minutes. People tuned in and heard about the church bake sale, the plumbing problem being fixed at the elementary school, road closings, and the weather for the next day, and then they moved on with their lives. In this modern age, we...

Sexual fetishism, or erotic fetishism, is the sexual arousal a person receives from a physical object, or from a specific situation. The object or situation of interest is called the fetish, the person a fetishist who has a fetish for that object/situation. Sexual fetishism may be regarded, e.g. in psychiatric medicine, as a disorder of sexual preference or as an enhancing element to a...

Schizophreniform disorder is a mental disorder diagnosed when symptoms of schizophrenia are present for a significant portion of the time within a one-month period, but signs of disruption are not present for the full six months required for the diagnosis of schizophrenia. The symptoms of both disorders can include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized or catatonic...

The treatment depends on what state the individual is in and how severe.  Manic patients have a wide range of symptoms.  The severely agitated and psychiatric manic patient needs hospitalization and treatment with antipsychotics, like Risperdal, Seroquel, Geodon, and Zyprexa.  The less severe forms of mania respond to Depakote, Lamictal, Trileptal, Lithium, Abilify, Topamax and Zonegran.  The...

Instantaneously, repeatedly, we are getting new as it happens: on phones, computers, radio and TV, Twitter, Facebook, emails, text messages… The backdrop to our world IS bad news – climate change, pollution, war, fear of nuclear holocaust, germs, terrorism, financial failures, unemployment, loss of jobs, loss of homes, collapse of government, collapse different states. The media reports on...