24 Jul 2025 – Go Retire Psychiatrist

I just noticed something about one of my YouTube videos that I made sort of as a combination gag and educational piece about pseudobulbar affect. It needed a couple of updates—one of which is minor and which I should have noticed 10 years ago when I made it.

It’s a pseudo-rap performance (badly done, I have to agree although it was fun to make), but it’s one of my most watched productions; it has 18,000 views.

One minor update is about the word “Dex” in the so-called lyrics of this raggedy rap song (see the description by clicking on the Watch on YouTube banner in the lower left-hand corner). It stands for dextromethorphan, one of the ingredients along with quinidine in Nuedexta, the medication for pseudobulbar affect. Dextromethorphan has been known to cause dissociation when it’s abused (for example, in cough syrup).

The most important update is about Dr. Robert G. Robinson, who I joked about in the piece. He passed away December 25, 2024. He was the chair of The University of Iowa Dept. of Psychiatry from 1999-2011. He was a great teacher, mentor, and researcher. He published hundreds of research papers and books on neuropsychiatric diseases like post-stroke depression and pseudobulbar affect. He lectured around the world and was widely regarded as a brilliant leader in his field.

Early in my career in the department, I left twice to try my hand in private practice psychiatry. Both times Dr. Robinson welcomed me back—warmly. He was my co-editor of our book, Psychosomatic Medicine: An Introduction to Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, published in 2010.

All who worked with Dr. Robinson will never forget him.

I was just wondering where the saying “you’re sitting in the catbird seat” came from. Some say it’s from how a catbird looks for food sitting on a high or secluded perch.

It’s hard to tell exactly where the saying originated but many point to James Thurber’s short story “The Catbird Seat,” first published in the New Yorker in 1942 and later included in his collected stories, “The Thurber Carnival.” The story’s a hoot and you can find it on line despite it still being under copyright.

Sitting in the catbird seat generally means being in an advantageous or superior position. In terms of health, especially if you’re getting to be an old guy like me, it means trying to maintain your health in several ways. I’m not the greatest example, but there are some hacks out there.

Dietary discretion is important. The whole story about processed and unprocessed food is beyond me but you can read more about it from the experts. One of them is University of Iowa researcher Dr. Terry Wahls. She’s got the low down on a healthy gut and part of her work is studying how an on-line wellness course might help those with multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, long COVID, and cancer patients with fatigue.

Dr. Wahls also like to play in the dirt in her garden, meaning she doesn’t wear gloves. Sena does that too. I worry about things like tetanus, but maybe that’s just me.

Staying mentally sharp is also important. A University of Alabama at Birmingham aging expert has interesting advice, and it includes “complex card games.” I think that would include cribbage, although you wouldn’t know it if you knew how seldom I win in games with Sena.

Exercise is big on the list and another University of Iowa expert says you could get enough with just 5 minutes a day. And it doesn’t necessarily involve barbells.

And after all that, we might be sitting in the cat bird seat! But don’t sit for too long.