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Dr. Igor Galynker and The Suicidal Crisis Syndrome
I was looking at my bookshelves and found the copy of the book, “The Suicidal Crisis: Clinical Guide to the Assessment of Imminent Suicide Risk.” It was written by Dr. Igor Galynker. It’s a fit topic for this month because September is National Suicide Prevention Month. This brings back memories. I still have a gift…
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The Thing About Identity
I was searching on the web for something about my co-editor, Robert G. Robinson, MD, for our book Psychosomatic Medicine: An Introduction to Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, published in 2010. The reason I was searching for something about him was that I’ve had difficulties finding anything on the web lately about doctors I had worked with years…
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The Lesser-Known Quote by Wonko the Sane
A couple of days ago, Sena and I were playing cribbage and she thought she had a higher scoring hand than she actually did. She immediately realized it and scored it right. She commented that, at first, she thought she saw something she didn’t actually see. I quipped that “First you have to see it.”…
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We Are All Still Learning to Play Pong
I noticed an article the other day about Monash University in Australia getting funding for further research into growing brain cells onto silicon chips and teaching them how to play cribbage. Just kidding, the research is for teaching the modified brain cells tasks. They succeeded in teaching them goal-directed tasks like how to play the…
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Can Robots Lie Like a Rug?
I’ve been reading Isaac Asimov’s book I, Robot, a collection of short stories about the relationship between humans and robots. One very thought-provoking story is “Liar!” One prominent character is Dr. Susan Calvin. If you’ve ever seen the movie I, Robot you know she’s cast as a psychiatrist whose job is to help humans be…
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I’m Reading Isaac Asimov’s Book “I, Robot”
I just got a copy of Isaac Asimov’s book “I, Robot” the other day. I’ve been thinking about reading it ever since seeing the movie “I, Robot.” As the movie opens, you see the disclaimer saying that the movie was “…inspired by but not based…” on Asimov’s book of the same name. In fact, the…
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What Do the Personal Brain Specialists Recommend?
Dr. George Dawson’s post “The Freak Show” reminded me of how coarse and cruel we can be to each other, even when we’re not aware of it. Maybe I should say especially when we’re not aware of it. Dr. Dawson emphasizes the importance of the empathic approach. In the same way, Dr. Moffic in the…
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An Old Post on Breaking Bad News
I’m reposting a piece about a sense of humor and breaking bad news to patients I first wrote for my old blog, The Practical Psychosomaticist about a dozen years ago. I still believe it’s relevant today. The excerpt from Mark Twain is priceless. Because it was published before 1923 (See Mark Twain’s Sketches, published in…
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Giving Credit Where Credit is Due
Here’s another vintage post from around a decade ago after my former Psychiatry Dept chairperson, Dr. Robert G. Robinson and I published our book, Psychosomatic Medicine: An Introduction to Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry” in 2010. Blog: Who Gets The Credit? When I think about peak moments, I remember this guy back in junior high school who decided…
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Blast from the Past Blog
I thought I’d re-post something from my previous blog, The Practical Psychosomaticist, which I cancelled several years ago. The title is “Face Time versus Facebook.” I sound really old in it although it appeared in 2011. I’m a little more comfortable with the concept of social media nowadays and, despite how ignorant I was back…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 