I see my role in a treatment relationship not as a healer, but as someone who can use my skills and experience to help people engage their inner healer, to heal themselves. In other words, I see the goal of treatment as to one day not need psychotherapy or medications.
Medications can be life-changing, even life-saving in some cases, but if quickly chosen - or if no longer needed - they can cause more problems than they solve. And sometimes a focus on meds distracts from important therapy work. Medications can be extremely helpful early in treatment, to reduce the anguish of severe depression or acute anxiety, and especially in early recovery from substance use disorders.
Over time as healing occurs and emotion regulation skills develop, the need for medication often decreases. Keeping medications going longer than is needed can be like keeping a cast on after the broken bone has healed - it can get in the way of further growth and healing. Knowing whether and when to make changes involves a trusting, open, collaborative approach.
Polarity is the juice of life. Aspire to hit the poles daily. Alone time/togetherness, work/play, mind/body, pleasure/pain, sweet/savory, beach/desert/mountain, goodbye/hello again.
I am a graduate of the Mass General Hospital (MGH)/McLean Hospital Psychiatry Residency Program at Harvard Medical School, and a Board-Certified Diplomate of the American Board Of Psychiatry And Neurology.
I received my MD from Yale Medical School, and my Master's in Health Policy from Harvard. I did my undergrad in Spanish Lit at UCSB, during which time I also studied for a year in Barcelona.
For those who want to see some of my research articles please enter the following codes into the search bar on PubMed.Gov:
PMID: 12900625, PMID: 20694111, PMID: 24354998, PMID: 23719328, PMID: 22939280, PMID: 23838588.
My book chapter entitled “Well-Being and Work-Life Balance: Cultural, Positive Psychology, and Practical Perspectives” can be found in the Handbook of Wellness Medicine, published in 2020 by Cambridge University Press.
