Vacation State of Mind: What Are the Benefits?

This video series is taking a short break while Dr Moffic travels. For now, enjoy the rerun of this video with updated commentary.

I am on vacation and my wife and I are looking forward to some changes to our state of mind, as recommended in this rerun video from a year ago, June 28, 2023. As I mentioned on the video last week, this 2024 summer is liable to be a more challenging summer, with predictions of more record temperatures, already occurring before the official beginning of the summer and the likelihood of increased political convention conflict and protests.

Perhaps just in time, I heard of the new concept and recommendations for therapeutic vacations, which I will discuss more in an upcoming column. The intent here is planning a vacation that you hope will do something to improve your personal development, sort of the opposite of an escapist vacation, though nothing is wrong with some escapism. Of course, that therapeutic outcome could also happen by chance rather than planning. I will let you know if that works for us upon our return. Like any vacation, it can be time away or a staycation.

Regardless, try to stay cool, both weather-wise and personal-wise.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.