H. Steven Moffic, MD

If there is an action that is further from sitting next to someone and trying to understand the psychology of their brain, it is standing next to someone and preparing to behead them.

While we still have our good mornings-whether in Vietnam or elsewhere-we must forever say good night to Robin Williams and to thank him for all the good times.

To some extent, humiliation is part and parcel of the human experience. Some make the case that minor experiences can be psychologically beneficial. The important challenge for mental health professionals to help patients understand and reduce humiliation.

More than 50 years have passed since One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was published, and almost 40 years since the movie was released, but the issues seem as relevant today as they were back then. If you haven’t seen the film or have forgotten what you saw, see it again as soon as you can. Here's why.

The passing of poet and humanitarian Maya Angelou, a 50th high school reunion, Memorial Day, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and a eulogy to the Unknown Psychiatrist. . .

Those who have experienced extreme trauma and their descendents have taught us much about resilience, renewal, and redemption-outcomes that are all recalled in this period of the Jewish Passover, Christian Easter, and Holocaust Memorial Week.

President Obama has told his daughters that that he thinks smoking marijuana is a "bad idea." I will tell my grandchildren the same thing. But what do I know? Not a whole lot, I'm afraid. How about you?

Psychiatry in China? Up until about a decade ago, that could have been considered an oxymoron. Yet, just as China has modernized and embraced a Chinese form of capitalism, so psychiatry is becoming modernized in a Chinese form of psychiatry.

This is the first in a series in which Dr Steve Moffic (and possibly other bloggers) revisits the blogs he has been writing for Psychiatric Times for the past several years.

Apologies seem rare, as does asking for forgiveness, when it comes to Internet ethics and cyber-bullying. Given the “Wild West” nature of Internet communication-with no commonly accepted rules-what might be done? Is there a communication model that might work better? Yes there is, according to this psychiatrist.

As the accolades roll in for Nelson Mandela on his death, lost among his astonishing accomplishments may be his relevance to mental health.

We know so little about community grieving. What is normal and what is not? Perhaps the tragedy in Newtown needs a careful analysis over time.

Some serendipitous occurrences made me wonder (even as a rational psychiatrist) whether something spooky and supernatural had been transmitted to me by the shaman who conducted a "Mother Earth" ceremony. Here's what happened.

A range of psychiatrists are remembered-from pioneers in psychoanalysis to trance studies; from psychopharmacology to reality therapy; from the normality of homosexuality to the psychopathology of “brain fag” syndrome; from flowers to film; from childhood to old age; from everyday clinicians to courageous challengers of the status quo; and from student to expert.

It is hard for mental health professionals to discuss completed suicides. Legal fears, confidentiality concerns, shame, and stigma are formidable obstacles. But talk we must, for talking-and listening-is a key to prevention and treatment.

When the diagnosis of ADHD is clear, treatment can be successful, and education and supportive psychotherapy helpful. However, complications are common.

This blog address the multidisciplinary approach to mental health care.

At the recent annual APA meeting, Dr Abraham Halpern was posthumously honored for the second annual Humanitarian Award by the American Association for Social Psychiatry. He was honored for his contributions to ethics, forensics, and advocacy of social issues.

You are invited to spend the next few minutes listening to what Dr Steven Moffic has to say about how the environment may be affecting your patients and what impact ecologically-related syndromes might have on psychiatry.

As most mental health professionals know by now, psychiatry's D-Day is rapidly approaching. DSM-5 addresses diagnostic categories, but there has never been an official treatment manual to complement the diagnostic one.

In our time, it seems that the number of psychiatrists who believe in a God are increasing, parallel with the decreasing influence of Freud’s ideas.

It is yet unclear whether the overwhelming shock of Newtown will galvanize action not only to prevent future mass murderers, but also to finally reduce the public health and mental health risks of more chronic, common, and routine gun violence in America.

About a year ago, I wrote the blog “Are Dogs Man's Best Therapist?” To my surprise, it turned out to be a very popular one. Since then, dogs continue to be in the news for their therapeutic effect, including being brought to Newtown right after the mass murder there.

Crucial changes occurred that will greatly influence the organization of services, reimbursement, and diagnosis. It even ended in an exclamation point, as the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut punctuated the need for improved mental healthcare services.

What we know for sure is that for all the young children and adults who were killed in Newtown, their world ended a week ago. Soon after the tragedy, one of the fathers of a child killed tearfully pleaded for society to learn from what happened in order to prevent future mass murders. Here, recommendations from a psychiatrist.

In this time of Thanksgiving, the excerpt from “Thank Heaven for Little Girls,” most famously sung by Maurice Chevalier, conveys one of life’s blessings for fathers.

Now that President Obama has been re-elected, the Monday morning quarterbacking has begun. What went right in each campaign? What went wrong? Who is next to run in 2016?

Four years ago, the winning presidential slogan went: “Yes, we can. Yes, we can.” We haven’t heard that slogan this time around. Maybe we’ve come back down from this idealism to a more sobering reality.

R.I.P. Rest Inspiring Psychiatrists. I am grateful for having known you.

Psychiatry has much in common with dentistry. After all, long ago psychiatry threw its lot in with the rest of medicine-that is, general medicine, specialty medicine, and surgery.