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Do We Really Need Artificial Intelligence to Help People Who Are Demoralized?
I was just going through the many files on one of my old thumb drives that I still keep after I retired from consultation-liaison psychiatry over 5 years ago. I found a file that I must have typed from a source on how to help medically ill persons who are demoralized. Demoralization is not the…
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Observations on Jonathan Eig’s Martin Luther King Distinguished Lecture
I discovered that the University of Iowa made a video presentation of Jonathan Eig’s speech for the Martin Luther King Distinguished Lecture on January 21, 2026. Mr. Eig wrote the MLK biography, “King: A Life” which was published in 2023. We just got a copy of it along with “The Autobiography Of MLK. We’re reading…
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Thoughts on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Today being Martin Luther King Day, I’m reminiscing a little about my short time as a student at Huston-Tillotson College (one of this country’s HBCUs, Huston-Tillotson University since 2005) in Austin, Texas. It’s always a good idea to thank your teachers. I never took a degree there, choosing to transfer credit to Iowa State University…
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What Questions Should We Ask on MLK Day?
I ran across this quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in my notes: “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. This week we’ll be getting the two biographies of…
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Replace Sycophantic AI with Marvin the Paranoid Android?
I found the perfect JAMA article explaining that sycophancy is programmed into Artificial Intelligence (AI) therapy chatbots. This reminded me of Marvin the paranoid android (“Life! Don’t talk to me about life!”) in the book series “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams. Marvin is an incredibly depressed robot who would never make…
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Connections Between Psychiatry, Artificiality and Blues Music?
I heard a song on the KCCK Big Mo Blues Show that I first heard in June of 2025. The song is “Artificial” by Walter Trout. At first blush, I agree with what I think is the point of the song, which is basically a protest against artificiality which could manifest in a range of…
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Exercise to Relieve Depression?
I’m sure you’ve seen the recently published articles on the web encouraging people to try exercising to treat depression. The articles rely on a new systematic review by the Cochrane Database, which you need to carefully interpret—not necessarily the whole paper; you could just skip to the bottom line in the Authors’ Conclusions: “Authors’ conclusions: Exercise…
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Glue Myself to My Biography
There’s a reason for why I so often tell Dad jokes. In keeping with my post from yesterday about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s biographies: I glued myself to my autobiography. You may not believe it, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. We’ve ordered a couple of biographies about Dr. King. One…
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Kudos to Dr. George Dawson on Today’s Blog Post!
I want to give a shout-out to Dr. George Dawson on his post today, “Enthusiasm is a plus…” It’s right on the mark. Having a zest for medicine is the reason why many physicians undertook the rigorous training in medical school, residency, and beyond. A sense of humor is evident in George’s essay—and he doesn’t…
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Shoveling Through Retirement Thoughts
I was just musing on Philip Rivers. You know about him. I blogged recently about his coming out of retirement to play quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts. I guess you already know this, but he retired again. Unlike Philip Rivers, I’ve not even considered coming out of retirement since I left my position at The…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 