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Personal Ancient History
The essay below is a blog post I wrote way back in 2010. I was a mid-career consultation-liaison psychiatrist in a university hospital. And I’d always been a writer by inclination. It was one of my first posts and after that, blogging was something I never really pulled away from. I tried to give it…
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Dr. Jim Fitness Test
I thought I would share my personal fitness test. I’m pretty regular, especially in the last couple of months since I found out I gained 20 pounds after I retired from my job as consulting psychiatrist to University of Iowa Health Care. Sena and I both exercise and we’re being careful about our diet (kale…
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May is Mental Health Month: Topic Today is Advocacy
Today’s topic for May Mental Health Month is advocacy. This could be about sharing a resource. I thought it might be OK to mention an Iowa resource for mental health, Your Life Iowa. It can be overwhelming to decide whether or not you’re ready to accept help for mental health challenges. First, you have to…
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Iowa Governor Reynolds Signs Iowa MAHA Bill Into Law Today
We watched the live-stream newscast of Iowa’s News Now video of Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signing the Iowa state version of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) bill HF 2676 into law just about an hour ago. U.S. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr was a guest and delivered a short speech in praise of…
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Talk About Talk Therapy
I saw this great blog post about psychotherapy by Dr. George Dawson a couple of days ago and it reminded me of an academic research rounds presentation made about 15 years ago by University of Iowa Health Care Dept of Psychiatry faculty member, Dr. Bruce Pfohl, MD Professor Emeritus. The title of his talk was…
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Get Up & Move!
On the calendar for Mental Health Month today is “Movement matters” so it’s all about getting off your duff and doing something physically active. It doesn’t have to be that strenuous and you can make it fun. For example, around 3 years or so ago, I picked up a set of juggling balls and taught…
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May is Mental Health Month & Today is Food Appreciation Day!
We need to cover food appreciation during this month because this Mental Health Awareness Month and it’s on the calendar for today. One of the really important subjects connected to this is to also raise awareness about frailty in older adults A recently published Australian study about frailty in seniors found that we need to…
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Today is National Hospital Day and National Limerick Day!
Today, in view of this being Mental Health Awareness Month, I’m calling attention to other national special days. One of them is National Hospital Day (and there’s also a National Hospital Week, which runs from May 10-16 this year). And I learned that this is also National Limerick Day, in honor of the English author…
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New York City Memories
The recent New York Post story about the man who shoved a 76-year-old retired schoolteacher down a flight of subway stairs caught my attention. The assailant had been sent to Bellevue for a court-ordered psychiatric assessment for similar agitated behavior not long before this assault. My understanding from news stories is that he was held…
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Getting Enough Sleep for the Most Important Person in the World: You
So, what’s on the menu for Mental Health Awareness today? It’s what some experts call sleep hygiene and there are all kinds of lists on the internet telling you how to get enough sleep. I think you’re OK with focusing on helpful tips that seem right for your age, your temperament, and your life and…
