The other night, my husband and I settled into what we like to think of as "our" table in our favorite San Francisco restaurant. The lighting is appropriately dim, the tables are all mahogany wood, and an international designer provided the décor. The celebrity chef/owner sometimes shows up and asks...

I recently received a phone call from a potential patient. A physician colleague made the referral. Over the phone, the prospective patient, speaking in a fast and anxious pace, told me that her primary care doctor "broke down and cried" during a recent visit because of how worried she was...

Every weekend, while boxing or football blared from the television in our home, my father sat, a beer nearby, in his designated place on the couch. Since he was a man who often needed more than one thing to do, while sportscasters shouted, my dad calmly cleaned his guns. The...

Many of us worry about our health. The culture of medicine and the way technology has shaped our relationships with physicians has given us a powerful message: If you are nervous about your health, see a doctor and she or he will perform a test or prescribe a medicine so...

Whether or not women orgasm and how they orgasm has been the subject of speculation for thousands of years. The diagnosis of hysteria in women began with Hippocrates and has been associated with pathology in female sexuality and reproduction. Galen, another early physician, thought hysteria represented a lack...

Health care costs are exploding, and one silent factor in containing costs is rarely mentioned: the underutilization of psychological services. The evidence is clear and has been for three decades. Studies have suggested people who see psychologists for symptoms are less likely to...

A striking and provocative article in New York Magazine discusses having a child at a later age. By "parents of a certain age," the author, Lisa Miller, is not referring to women in their late 30s or even early 40s who have children with or without the...

You may have been hearing about rising rates of divorce among married, heterosexual baby boomers. While I am an advocate for any adult couple choosing not to stay together for any reason, the current rates of divorce in this cohort are striking. The Star Tribune reports that a...

Medicare is on the minds of many baby boomers. It has been on my mind for a while, even before the current political wrangling about its fate. Let's face it; we have been here before, though the stakes seemed much lower.

I am not writing to make...

How do we know what is really in our control? Many of us do a number of things to prevent illness; we exercise, eat fruits and vegetables, don't smoke, try not to drink too much, etc. But the reality is, some people do everything right and still get sick.

Daphne Merkin's penetrating, moving, and poignant article in the New York Times Magazine, which describes the hopes and disappointments of nearly 40 years in various forms of analytic treatment, is likely familiar to many. Her article has the blogosphere frenetic, with many bloggers hurling critiques at psychoanalysis. Though...

For a while, I thought my worries were irrational. One by one, I saw physician colleagues close their practices and open boutique medical concierge services. They decided to stop taking insurance and opened businesses designed to serve the wealthy. Many physicians I have previously referred to now take only cash-paying...

I love gossip magazines; they are my one guilty indulgence. I know that half of what I read in them may be false, and until recently that rarely bothered me.

On a recent weekend, when I decided I would take a break from anything academic, I spent a lot...

With the advent of ObamaCare and the promise of prevention as part of the health care debate, it seems important to consider how our tax dollars are spent. I never used to think about the spending of medical research dollars, beyond knowing that three percent of the GNP...

The other night my husband and I got together with some friends. Although we always look forward to an evening with this particular couple, lately our dinners, which were once so carefree, are now conducted in the shadow of sadness and potential loss. Our close friends might be forced to...

From the three wise men in the Bible, to the witches in Macbeth, to a favorite childhood movie, The Karate Kid, many of us have grown up with the idea of wise elders. Sage mentors warn us, encourage us, and keep us focused in the right direction. Yet, as I...

Being a doctor these days is hard. But so is being a patient, especially if you happen to be female and overweight.

A study last year found that more than 40% of doctors feel "frustrated" by obese patients. But feelings among doctors are not the only problem.

I am a huge critic of psychoanalysis. I am wary of the religious aspects of it, as well as the institution of psychoanalytic training. Historically, unquestioned authority of analysts has done a lot of damage, not to mention the profound neglect of reality that some psychoanalysts espouse.

Obviously I...

I was in my late 20's when I walked into a dialysis clinic for the first time. The interior of the waiting area was worn, with beige paint peeling off of the walls. As I waited awkwardly to find out where my patient was my attention was drawn to a...

Modern healthcare technology has delivered previously undreamed of longevity, sometimes with, but often without, an accompanying quality of life. Medical technology not only has increased the average life span, it seduces us into believing that we can cheat death or bodily limitations. Organ transplants, cardiac catheterizations, and even fertility treatments...