Podcasts about massachusetts medical school

Matters Microbial #89: Can AI Point Us to New Antibiotics May 1, 2025 Today, Dr. Amir Mitchell, Associate Professor of Systems Biology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss using artificial intelligence to develop new and effective antibiotics in our endless battle against drug-resistant microbes. Host: Mark O. Martin Guest: Amir MItchell Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify Become a patron of Matters Microbial! Links for this episode An article exploring the impact of the microbiome on drug effectiveness. A blog post discussing the relationship between the gut microbiome and creosote metabolism in wood rats. An essay about the threat of antibiotic resistance. A more scholarly article on this topic. A CDC report of the rise of antibiotic resistance. A very moving TED talk on this topic. An overview of antibiotic resistance mechanisms. A video from Dr. Michael Baym's laboratory demonstrating how rapidly antibiotic resistance can occur. An essay discussing the use of artificial intelligence in the search for new antibiotics.  An article from Dr. Mitchell's research group discussing his approach to identity new antimicrobial compounds. Dr. Mitchell's faculty website. Dr. Mitchell's very interesting research team website. Intro music is by Reber Clark Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Cardiovascular disease is among the leading causes of death in the United States, which begs the question: How can we prevent heart disease before it's too late? Many medical professionals believe that lifestyle and diet are the best places to start . . . In this episode, we connect with Dr. Raj K. Anand, author of A Practical Approach to EKG Interpretation. In this book, Dr. Anand explores how both a healthy diet and mindfulness can prevent coronary heart disease. In addition to being an accomplished author, Dr. Arnand also served for 41 years at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and invented the “Thermo-Electric Angioplasty Catheter”. Join us as Dr. Anand talks about: What led him to write A Practical Approach to EKG Interpretation. The concepts within the book that are geared toward helping people's lifestyles. The importance of slowly shifting your diet. Which foods you should avoid eating. re you willing to do what it takes to build a healthy heart and mind? If so, Dr. Anand is certainly worth listening to! To learn more about Dr. Raj K. Anand and his approach to wellness, you can visit his website at rajkanand.com. Episode also available on Apple Podcast: http://apple.co/30PvU9C Boost Your Brainpower with 15% OFF!  Fuel your mind with BrainSupreme Supplements and unlock your full potential. Get 15% OFF your order now using this exclusive link: brainsupreme.co/discount/findinggenius Hurry—your brain deserves the best!

Victor Ambros, newly awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery of microRNA, is a developmental biologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. In this episode, we explore improvisational science – the dynamic, collaborative process where researchers build on each other's ideas using a "yes, and…" approach. We discuss the constant need to reframe and refine scientific questions, and the challenge of helping young researchers build the confidence to question established ideas. Victor underscores the power of curiosity-driven research, emphasizing how each scientist's unique perspective can lead to discoveries others might miss. We also examine AI's evolving role in scientific discovery – particularly in synthesizing knowledge across disciplines – and how it can complement the cross-pollination of ideas at scientific conferences.For more information about Night Science, visit https://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/night-science .

Why do we feel anxious even when threats are only imagined, and why have we evolved to feel anxiety? The connection between mental and physical health is well documented and talked about, but very easy to forget in times of stress. In this episode, we revisit a conversation with Dr. Christine Runyan, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and co-founder of Tend Health about the roots of this complex emotion, and learn self care techniques that actually work, and why.  Dr. Christine Runyan on On Being: https://onbeing.org/programs/christine-runyan-on-healing-our-distressed-nervous-systems/ More about Tend Health: https://tend.health/meet-tend/meet-founders/

How to fix your hangover? When it comes to health, Jill Grimes, MD, is PASSIONATE about PREVENTION. As a proud Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, her practical and evidence-based advice covers all ages, genders and body parts. Dr. Grimes has always enjoyed educating, in and out of the exam rooms. Her message is shared across all media platforms, from print magazines and online forums, to radio talk shows and television. Dr. Grimes was a National Merit and President's Endowed Scholar at Texas A&M University, the Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of '87 (Whoop!) She earned her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine, and completed her family medicine residency in Austin, TX, in 1991. After twenty years of private practice in Austin, Dr. Grimes then worked part-time on campus at the University of Texas University Health Services until 2020, at which point she pivoted to community outreach through public health initiatives during COVID. As a parent of freshly graduated college students herself, Dr. Grimes is especially empathetic to the medical challenges these young people experience. Dr. Grimes passion project, however, is an award-winning book now in it's third edition: the humorous and evidence-based “The ULTIMATE College Student Health Handbook: Your Guide for Everything from Hangovers to Homesickness”. In episode 518 of the Fraternity Foodie Podcast, we find out why Dr. Grimes chose Texas A&M for her undergraduate experience, what she does for the University of Massachusetts Medical School, what are BORGs and are they dangerous, what happens in your brain when you blackout from drinking, 5. what are the warning signs of alcohol poisoning, how do I fix my hangover from drinking alcohol, what is Dr. Grimes' stance on marijuana, and how do I know one of my friends needs help with their mental health. Enjoy! *Please note that Dr. Grimes offers medical information, not personal medical advice, and opinions do not necessarily represent those of any current or past employers. 

Dr. Bill Bortcosh received his Doctorate of Medicine from Albany Medical School, NY. He completed his pediatric residency at the University of Massachusetts Medical School followed by pediatric critical care fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.Learning Objectives:By the end of this podcast series, listeners should be able to discuss:Why critical evaluation of a patient's acid-base status can be useful and practical in the acute care settingThe basic pathophysiology of each acid-base disturbanceThe definition of an anion gap and how to use it as a screening toolThe use of Winter's formula to identify a respiratory acidosis or alkalosisThe utility of the delta-delta to identify additional metabolic acidosis or alkalosisLink to Acid/Base HandoutReferences1. Carmody JB, Norwood VF. A clinical approach to paediatric acid-base disorders. Postgrad Med J. 2012;88(1037):143-51.2. Carmody JB, Norwood VF. Paediatric acid-base disorders: A case-based review of procedures and pitfalls. Paediatr Child Health. 2013;18(1):29-32.3. Emmett M. Approach to the Patient With a Negative Anion Gap. Am J Kidney Dis. 2016;67(1):143-50.4. Luke RG, Galla JH. It is chloride depletion alkalosis, not contraction alkalosis. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2012;23(2):204-7.5. https://emcrit.org/ibcc/salicylates/Questions, comments or feedback? Please send us a message at this link (leave email address if you would like us to relpy) Thanks! -Alice & ZacSupport the showHow to support PedsCrit:Please complete our Listener Feedback SurveyPlease rate and review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!Donations are appreciated @PedsCrit on Venmo , you can also support us by becoming a patron on Patreon. 100% of funds go to supporting the show. Thank you for listening to this episode of PedsCrit. Please remember that all content during this episode is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. It should not be used as medical advice. The views expressed during this episode by hosts and our guests are their own and do not reflect the official position of their institutions. If you have any comments, suggestions, or feedback-you can email us at pedscritpodcast@gmail.com. Check out http://www.pedscrit.com for detailed show notes. And visit @critpeds on twitter and @pedscrit on instagram for real time show updates.

Dr. Bill Bortcosh received his Doctorate of Medicine from Albany Medical School, NY. He completed his pediatric residency at the University of Massachusetts Medical School followed by pediatric critical care fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.Learning Objectives:By the end of this podcast series, listeners should be able to discuss:Why critical evaluation of a patient's acid-base status can be useful and practical in the acute care settingThe basic pathophysiology of each acid-base disturbanceThe definition of an anion gap and how to use it as a screening toolThe use of Winter's formula to identify a respiratory acidosis or alkalosisThe utility of the delta-delta to identify additional metabolic acidosis or alkalosisLink to Acid/Base HandoutReferences1. Carmody JB, Norwood VF. A clinical approach to paediatric acid-base disorders. Postgrad Med J. 2012;88(1037):143-51.2. Carmody JB, Norwood VF. Paediatric acid-base disorders: A case-based review of procedures and pitfalls. Paediatr Child Health. 2013;18(1):29-32.3. Emmett M. Approach to the Patient With a Negative Anion Gap. Am J Kidney Dis. 2016;67(1):143-50.4. Luke RG, Galla JH. It is chloride depletion alkalosis, not contraction alkalosis. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2012;23(2):204-7.5. https://emcrit.org/ibcc/salicylates/Questions, comments or feedback? Please send us a message at this link (leave email address if you would like us to relpy) Thanks! -Alice & ZacSupport the showHow to support PedsCrit:Please complete our Listener Feedback SurveyPlease rate and review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!Donations are appreciated @PedsCrit on Venmo , you can also support us by becoming a patron on Patreon. 100% of funds go to supporting the show. Thank you for listening to this episode of PedsCrit. Please remember that all content during this episode is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. It should not be used as medical advice. The views expressed during this episode by hosts and our guests are their own and do not reflect the official position of their institutions. If you have any comments, suggestions, or feedback-you can email us at pedscritpodcast@gmail.com. Check out http://www.pedscrit.com for detailed show notes. And visit @critpeds on twitter and @pedscrit on instagram for real time show updates.

Genicular Artery Embolization (GAE) Unlock the Power of Pain-Free Living with Genicular Artery Embolization (GAE) Are you or someone you love struggling with chronic knee pain? Say goodbye to the limitations of knee osteoarthritis and embrace a life of mobility and comfort with Genicular Artery Embolization (GAE)! Why Choose GAE? NonSurgical: GAE is a minimally invasive procedure, meaning no major surgery and no scars. Immediate Relief: Experience significant pain reduction almost immediately after the procedure. Long-Lasting Results: Enjoy durable pain relief that can last for years. Outpatient Procedure: GAE is performed on an outpatient basis, allowing you to return home the same day. Delay or Avoid Surgery: GAE can delay or even eliminate the need for more invasive knee surgeries. Improved Mobility: Regain your ability to move freely and perform daily activities without pain. Personalized Treatment: Tailored to your specific needs, ensuring the best possible outcome. Join Vascular Surgeon, Dr Edward Arous and Biochemist Phil George as they explore this game changing procedure. Join us for an enlightening media presentation where we'll dive deep into the science behind GAE, share patient success stories, and answer all your questions. Don't let knee pain hold you back any longer—discover the transformative benefits of… Meet Dr. Edward J. Arous, a distinguished Boardcertified vascular surgeon with vast experience in endovascular and open surgery. Born in Worcester, MA, he earned his medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and a master's in public health from Harvard. Dr. Arous served as an Assistant Professor and Director of the Limb Preservation Center at UMass, and has received numerous accolades, including the Alpha OmegaAlpha induction, Darling Award, and Chancellor's Award. He is affiliated with several prestigious societies, including the Society for Vascular Surgery and the New England Society for Vascular Surgery. Join us to learn more about his remarkable journey and expertise. Please feel free to email him at philgeorge@charter.net with any health/nutrition/exercise questions. https://www.wellnesswave.net/

Dr. Andrew Lam is a retinal surgeon and an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He's also an award-winning, international bestselling author of four books, “The Masters of Medicine,” “Saving Sight,” “Repentance” and “Two Sons of China.” On Thursday Oct. 31, at 3:30 p.m., he will give a talk at the Lincoln Library titled “The Only Winner in War is Medicine.” The event is a fundraiser for the Lincoln Library Alliance.For more information:Website: www.AndrewLamMD.comFacebook: @AndrewLamAuthorTwitter: @Andrew_LamMDInstagram: @AndrewLamMD

Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the renowned Stress Reduction Clinic at the Univ. of Massachusetts Medical School, discusses how the technique of “mindfulness” can be physically and mentally therapeutic. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the renowned Stress Reduction Clinic at the Univ. of Massachusetts Medical School, discusses how the technique of “mindfulness” can be physically and mentally therapeutic. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

"The intersection of medicine, business and courageous creativity is where I've spent most of my career" Wendy Dean MD     In S5 E9 I am delighted to introduce another "heavy hitter" in healthcare thought leadership and transformational practice, Wendy Dean MD, president and co-founder of Moral Injury of Healthcare. Dr Dean is an alum of Smith College and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She trained in surgery and psychiatry at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. After practicing for a decade, Wendy worked for the US Army, where she managed regenerative medicine research funding and guided strategy for a $70M investment in the emerging field of hand and face transplants. In that position, and as a senior executive at a large nonprofit in Washington, D.C., she worked closely with both the civilian and military medical communities, and many government agencies--BARDA, NIH, WHOSTP, NASA, DARPA--to develop novel strategies to restore form, function and appearance to ill and injured service members. She remains part of those communities as a board member and prize judge.          In describing her mission she says,"My focus now is on finding innovative ways to make medicine better for both patients and physicians through my own non-profit and by helping new talent and new ventures realize their big ideas."               Farming, fencing, photography, and riding big, opinionated horses keeps me focused outside of work.               In this conversation Wendy discusses the concept and definition of moral injury in medicine, how it is distinct but can co-exist with burnout, the implication of this for medical systems and organisations and the evolution of her own thinking and practice in this area since the publication of the OpEd she co-authored in 2018 "Clinicians aren't burning out they are suffering from moral injury". We discuss her book "If I Betray these Words" from idea to fruition and the challenges and opportunities of elevating clinical voices through story. The major part of this conversation is directed towards transformational leadership and practice in the modern day "business" of healthcare. Who is doing it well and what is working well? Wendy's commitment to mission and purpose and willingness to challenge her own and our collective thinking and practice permeates this entire episode. Thank you for energising me and for all the work that you do to move us forward towards a brighter future for healthcare. Links/References/Reading/Listening:https://wendydeanmd.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-dean-md/https://www.fixmoralinjury.org/what-is-moral-injuryhttps://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/718606/if-i-betray-these-words-by-wendy-dean-and-simon-talbot/ https://www.statnews.com/2018/07/26/physicians-not-burning-out-they-are-suffering-moral-injury/https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/43cc/id1715895952 The Mind Full Medic Podcast is proudly sponsored by the MBA NSW-ACT Find out more about their service or donate today at www.mbansw.org.auDisclaimer: The content in this podcast is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health care professional. Moreover views expressed here are our own and do not necessarily reflect those of our employers or other official organisations.

Show Notes for Episode with Dr. Jacob L. Freedman Episode 7: From The Couch to a Jerusalem Bakery: A Conversation with Dr. Jacob L. Freedman Episode Description: In this insightful episode of Judaism with Altitude, we are joined by Dr. Jacob L. Freedman, a distinguished board-certified psychiatrist practicing in both The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and The State of Israel. Dr. Freedman shares his unique approach to psychiatry, which integrates mindfulness and Jewish values to help patients find meaning and purpose in their lives. Guest Bio: Dr. Jacob L. Freedman is a board-certified psychiatrist with a private practice in Jerusalem. He is a graduate of The University of Massachusetts Medical School and The Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program, where he was Chief Resident of Inpatient Psychiatry and recipient of The Henry G. Altman Award for Excellence in Medical Education. Dr. Freedman has served as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine and has published in prestigious journals such as The American Journal of Psychiatry, The Harvard Review of Psychiatry, and The British Journal of Psychiatry. He is also an accomplished public speaker and consultant. Episode Highlights: Dr. Freedman discusses how he incorporates mindfulness and Jewish values into his psychiatric practice. The importance of good relationships and healthy habits like sufficient sleep and exercise in reducing depression and anxiety. Dr. Freedman shares stories from his experience working with a diverse range of patients, including those with severe psychiatric conditions. Insights on how meaningful living and finding purpose can significantly improve mental health. Books by Dr. Jacob L. Freedman: Off the Couch The Things I Told My Patients Recommended Readings: Mindfulness: A Jewish Approach by Dr. Feiner Living in Presence by Benjy Epstein Recommended TED Talk: What Makes a Good Life? Lessons from the Longest Study on Happiness by Robert Waldinger Listen to the full episode to explore more about Dr. Freedman's integrative approach to mental health and his invaluable insights into living a meaningful and fulfilling life. Follow Us: Website: Judaism with Altitude Facebook: @JewPro.Denver Instagram: @OlamiDenverExperience Subscribe and Review: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to Judaism with Altitude and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps us bring more meaningful content to you.

Join us for a conversation with George M. Abraham, former president of the American College of Physicians (2021-2022) and a professor of medicine. We'll explore the vital role of international medical graduates (IMGs) in the U.S. health care system. Discover how IMGs enhance cultural competence, improve access to care in underserved areas, and contribute to academic medicine and research. George shares his perspectives on the challenges IMGs face, their impact on internal medicine, and strategies to ensure equal opportunities within the physician workforce. George M. Abraham, MD, MPH was ACP's president for 2021-2022, is a professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, chief of medicine at Saint Vincent Hospital, and adjunct professor of medicine at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Services in Worcester, Mass. He discusses the KevinMD article, "Everyone under the big tent: the international medical graduate." Our presenting sponsor is Nuance, a Microsoft company. Together, Microsoft and Nuance are leveraging their rich digital technology and advanced AI capabilities to tackle some of health care's biggest challenges. AI-driven technology promises to revolutionize patient and provider experiences with clinical documentation that writes itself. The Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience, or DAX for short, is a voice-enabled solution that automatically captures patient encounters securely and accurately at the point of care. DAX Copilot combines proven conversational and ambient AI with the most advanced generative AI in a mobile application that integrates directly with your existing workflows. Physicians who use DAX have reported a 50 percent decrease in documentation time and a 70 percent reduction in feelings of burnout, and 85 percent of patients say their physician is more personable and conversational. Discover AI-powered clinical documentation that writes itself. Visit https://nuance.com/daxinaction to see a 12-minute DAX Copilot demo. VISIT SPONSOR → https://nuance.com/daxinaction SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast RECOMMENDED BY KEVINMD → https://www.kevinmd.com/recommended GET CME FOR THIS EPISODE → https://www.kevinmd.com/cme I'm partnering with Learner+ to offer clinicians access to an AI-powered reflective portfolio that rewards CME/CE credits from meaningful reflections. Find out more: https://www.kevinmd.com/learnerplus

Today I had the pleasure of discussing how to live a mindful life with mindfulness teacher, Ted Meissner. About Ted: a meditator since the early 90's, is a UMass Center for Mindfulness Certified MBSR Teacher, and is the host of the podcast Present Moment: Mindfulness Practice and Science and the new video podcast Mindfulness Voyage. He has presented about mindfulness to various groups including Apple, UnitedHealth, Optum, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, the National Black Nurses Association, and others. Ted has been published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, Mindful, and The International Journal of Whole Person Care, and is a peer reviewer of articles for the science journal Mindfulness.  He supervises mindfulness teachers internationally with the Institute for Mindfulness-Based Approaches based in Germany, serves on the board of trustees for The Mindfulness Network in the U.K., has held master classes for the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation, and teaches various mindfulness and burnout courses live online.

How have the Four Heavenly Messengers led you to the path of the dharma? In this talk, Bob Stahl shares his own experience with these messengers and how they changed the course of his life in the midst of being a very confused young man without direction. He encourages us to consider the conditions and events that have appeared in our own lives to shepherd us toward awakening. ______________ Bob Stahl, Ph.D., founded eight Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programs in medical centers in the SF Bay Area before he retired from El Camino Hospital in Mt. View, California. He serves as an Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences in the School of Public Health at Brown University Mindfulness Center and formerly at the Oasis Institute for Mindfulness-Based Professional Education and Training at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Bob teaches MBSR Teacher Trainings and Insight Mindfulness Meditation retreats worldwide and is the former guiding teacher at Insight Santa Cruz and a visiting teacher at Spirit Rock and Insight Meditation Society. He is the co-author of five books: A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook (1st & 2nd editions), Living With Your Heart Wide Open, Calming the Rush of Panic, A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook for Anxiety, and MBSR Everyday. Find him at https://www.mindfulnessprograms.com/ Support the Show.______________ To participate live and be notified of upcoming speakers in advance, please Like us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/gaybuddhistfellowship) or visit https://gaybuddhist.org/calendar/ To support our efforts to share these talks with LGBTQIA audiences worldwide, please visit www.GayBuddhist.org.There you can: Donate Learn how to participate live Find our schedule of upcoming speakers Join our mailing list or discussion forum Enjoy many hundreds of these recorded talks dating back to 1996 CREDITSAudio Engineer: George HubbardProducer: Tom BrueinMusic/Logo/Artwork: Derek Lassiter

This is a rebroadcast. The episode originally ran in March 2020. Jacob Hess, Carrie Skarda, Kyle Anderson, and Ty Mansfield are the authors of The Power of Stillness: Mindful Living for Latter-day Saints. In this interview they discuss where mindfulness and meditation fit into the gospel and how we can better approach our service and our practices with the balance of mindfulness. Jacob Hess, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) instructor trained through the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Carrie Skarda, PsyD, is a psychologist in private practice. She has provided individual and couples therapy with particular interest in attachment trauma and mindfulness, and has studied and practiced mindfulness and formal meditation for over ten years. Kyle Anderson, PhD, is a professor of Chinese and Asian Studies, currently an administrator in Global Learning, International Partnerships and Initiatives at Clemson University, and came to mindfulness meditation through his studies in Asian literature. Ty Mansfield, PhD, is a practicing marriage and family therapist, an adjunct instructor in Religious Education at Brigham Young University, and is in the process of certification with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach in their Mindfulness Meditation Teacher training program. Links The Power of Stillness: Mindful Living for Latter-day Saints Jesus: The Perfect Leader, by Spencer W. Kimball The Council for Sustainable Healing Transcript coming soon Get 14-day access to the Core Leader Library Highlights 5:40 Jacob was exposed to meditation in graduate school and began to see where it fit into the gospel tradition 7:00 Backgrounds of the authors 9:00 Definitions of mindfulness and what it means to Christians and to Latter-day Saints: compassionate presence in the moment 11:10 Christ was meditative and present in the moment 12:25 Being busy vs. mindfulness 14:00 Looking for words in our own tradition: reverence, peace, stillness, pondering 15:45 Advice for a busy leader: Christ had a practice of punctuating his doing with non-doing; the rhythm of action and pausing is already built in to our practices 19:40 It's not the gospel that people struggle with, but an impoverished experience of it 20:55 David O. McKay quote: “I think we pay too little attention to the value of meditation, a principle of devotion. In our worship there are two elements: One is spiritual communion arising from our own meditation; the other, instruction from others, particularly from those who have authority to guide and instruct us. Of the two, the more profitable introspectively is meditation. Meditation is the language of the soul.” 22:10 Example in a ward council: not praying as a to-do, but sitting with the Savior 23:30 Clarity and priority come through pausing between action 24:25 Centering the attention on the inspiration in the moment and not on the calendar: Am I interruptable? 26:20 The Savior was interruptable in his task at hand and could pivot to what was most needful in the moment 28:35 The Savior was willing to build in his time with His Father, the foundation of His work 29:35 We can meditate on the person in front of us by giving them our full attention in that moment 31:30 The order in which the Savior did what he did: communion with the Father, surrounding himself in community, then going out to minister 33:45 C.S. Lewis (in Mere Christianity): “It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.”

Learn the business and management skills you need by enrolling in the University of Tennessee Physician Executive MBA program at nonclinicalphysicians.com/physicianmba. Get the FREE GUIDE to 10 Nonclinical Careers at nonclinicalphysicians.com/freeguide. Get a list of 70 nontraditional jobs at nonclinicalphysicians.com/70jobs. =============== Dr. Sylvie Stacy received her medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She then completed her Master's Degree in Public Health and her Public Health and General Preventive Medicine Residency at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is a dually board-certified addictionologist and preventive medicine specialist with nearly a decade of experience in correctional healthcare. She has held nonclinical jobs in medical writing, medical education, utilization management, and clinical documentation improvement. She also hosted a popular website and blog dedicated to nonclinical and nontraditional careers for physicians that she has since sold. She wrote and published her first book, 50 Nonclinical Careers for Physicians: Fulfilling, Meaningful, and Lucrative Alternatives to Direct Patient Care, in 2020. Earlier this year she released her follow-up book, 50 Unconventional Clinical Careers for Physicians: Unique Ways to Use Your Medical Degree Without Leaving Patient Care. In today's interview, we will catch up with her since her appearance on the podcast in June of 2018, and learn about her new book. During our interview, Sylvie explains why she wrote her new book and describes several of the unconventional clinical careers she wrote about. Finally, she provides advice for thriving in an unconventional clinical career. You will find all of the links mentioned in the episode at https://nonclinicalphysicians.com/unconventional-clinical-careers/

Don't miss out on exclusive bonus content, as well as special offers and initiatives. Join the Shtark Tank Quiet Whatsapp Group today, ⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠. Has Shtark Tank made even a small impact on your life? Email me at yaakovwolff@gmail.com with feedback, questions, comments. Jacob L. Freedman, MD, is a board-certified psychiatrist practicing medicine in both The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and The State of Israel where he maintains a private practice in Jerusalem. He is a graduate of The University of Massachusetts Medical School, and The Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program where he was Chief Resident of Inpatient Psychiatry and the recipient of The Henry G. Altman Award for Excellence in Medical Education. Topics Covered: From Harvard to the Holy Land Positive Psychology Mindfulness Stress Screens He has published 3 books, you can order them on Amazon: Off The Couch The Things I Told My Patients Me and Uncle Baruch

In this episode of In The Growth Space, David is joined by Dr. Cynthia Whitaker, president and CEO at Greater Nashua Mental Health. She is dually licensed as both a Psychologist and a Master Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor. Dr. Whitaker received her doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University New England and received a Certificate in Primary Care Behavioral Health from the Center for Integrated Primary Care at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She is a strong advocate of social justice and has committed her career to the community mental health system.    In this episode, you'll hear David & Dr. Whitaker discuss: Dr. Whitaker's path to building organizational culture. Applying Appreciative Inquiry in strategic planning. Boosting team performance for greater impact. Revamping performance reviews for improvement.   We have a Q&A episode coming up! To leave a voicemail with your question, call into this number - (412) 475-9288 Click here for access to my free ebook Check out https://www.davidmcglennen.com/podcasts/in-the-growth-space-2 for links, transcript, and more details  

Jon Kabat-Zinn is a pioneering figure in the field of mindfulness and its integration into mainstream Western medicine and psychology. He is Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he created both the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society. Kabat-Zinn is widely recognized for developing the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, which incorporates mindfulness meditation to help people manage stress, pain, and illness and is offered by medical centers, hospitals, and health maintenance organizations around the world. In addition to his academic and research work, he is the bestselling author of books like Wherever You Go, There You Are, and Full Catastrophe Living, the creator of The JKZ Meditations App, and a sought-after speaker who has conducted mindfulness workshops and retreats worldwide. ------ Thank you to the sponsors that fuel our podcast and our team: Squarespace https://squarespace.com/tetra ------ LMNT Electrolytes https://drinklmnt.com/tetra ------ House of Macadamias https://www.houseofmacadamias.com/tetra

Mitchell Louis Judge Li, MD is a board-certified emergency physician and founder of the advocacy group, Take Medicine Back, dedicated to taking the profession of medicine back to its ethical roots from corporate interests. Dr. Li has been an invited speaker representing physicians to the Federal Trade Commission on the firsthand effects of mergers and acquisitions on healthcare, has spoken as a panelist at the Capitol Forum's Conference on Healthcare Competition, and currently serves as the only physician-advisor to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's committee on healthcare financialization. Dr. Li earned his medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 2013 and completed his emergency medicine residency at St. John Hospital in Detroit, MI in 2017. He currently practices emergency medicine full-time. Dr. Li is also the founder of a Direct Physician Care (aka Direct Primary Care) practice. Topics covered in this episode: Moral injury & compassion fatigue in human medicine (like in veterinary medicine) How “profits over patients” hurts everyone What is the Corporate Practice of Medicine? How corporations bypass prohibition of the “Corporate Practice of Medicine” How this relates to veterinarians. Links and Resources: Visit the Take Medicine Back website  Read “The Reclamation of Emergency Medicine: “Take EM Back” White Paper” Find Take Medicine Back on Facebook Find Take Medicine Back on Twitter  The House Call Vet Academy links: Find out about The House Call Vet Academy online CE course  Learn more about Dr. Eve Harrison  Learn more about 1-to-1 coaching for current & prospective house call, mobile, & concierge vets Get House Call Vet swag! Find out about the next House Call & Mobile Vet Virtual Conference Music: In loving memory of Dr. Steve Weinberg. Intro and outro guitar music was written, performed, and recorded by house call veterinarian Dr. Steve Weinberg. Thank you to our sponsors! Chronos O3 Vets Rekindling w/ Julie Squires This podcast is also available in video on our House Call Vet Cafe YouTube channel  

The CE experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy - click here to reflect and earn credits: https://earnc.me/FQ4P7m Wendy Dean, MD is the CEO and co-founder of The Moral Injury of Healthcare, a nonprofit focused on alleviating workforce distress through research, education, consultation, and training. She is the author of If I Betray These Words: Moral Injury In Medicine and Why It's So Hard For Clinicians to Put Patients First, and cohost of the Moral Matters and 43cc podcasts. Before co-founding the nonprofit, Dr. Dean practiced as a psychiatrist, worked for the Department of Defense in research innovation, and as an executive for a large international non-profit supporting military medical research. Dr. Dean graduated from Smith College and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She did her residency training at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH. Links mentioned in show: FTC, DOJ, HHS Inquiry - https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/03/federal-trade-commission-department-justice-department-health-human-services-launch-cross-government You can leave comments here: https://www.regulations.gov/docket/FTC-2024-0022/document Moral Injury of Healthcare Website: https://www.fixmoralinjury.org/ 43cc podcast: https://www.43ccpodcast.com/ The Hospital: Life, Death and Dollars in a Small American Town - by Brian Alexander -=+=-=+=-=+= Are you a doctor struggling to provide the best care for your patients while dealing with financial and caregiving matters out of the scope of your practice? Do you find yourself scrambling to keep up with the latest resources and wish there was an easier way? Finally, our Virtual Health and Financial Conference for Caregivers is here! This conference helps you and your patients enlist the best strategies around health care resources and the best financial steps for your patients to take while navigating care. You don't have to go home feeling frustrated and helpless because you couldn't connect your patients with the best services. In just 90 minutes, our VIP Live Roundtable will answer your questions and be the lifeline that helps your patients put together an effective caregiving plan. Find out more at Jeanniedougherty.com and click on Conference for Caregivers VIP. -+=-+=-+=-+=   Join the Conversation! We want to hear from you! Do you have additional thoughts about today's topic? Do you have your own Prescription for Success? Record a message on Speakpipe   Unlock Bonus content and get the shows early on our Patreon Follow us or Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Amazon  | Spotify --- There's more at https://mymdcoaches.com/podcast Music by Ryan Jones. Find Ryan on Instagram at _ryjones_, Contact Ryan at ryjonesofficial@gmail.com Production assistance by Clawson Solutions Group, find them on the web at csolgroup.com  

Rivalries at the Cutting Edge: How Personal Battles Forged Medical Miracles The Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series Welcome to a riveting episode of the Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates interview series, where today we dive into the fascinating world of medical innovation, rivalry, and the indomitable spirit of human progress. In a journey through time, we unravel how the worst in people sometimes leads to the best for humanity. Imagine the relentless pursuit of breakthroughs that have saved millions of lives, shaped by the hands of brilliant but flawed individuals. These were not saints but driven, competitive beings whose envy, ambition, and rivalry, while often tarnishing their personal legacies, inadvertently spurred some of the most significant medical discoveries in history. In this episode, we're honored to host returning guest and audience favorite, Smithsonian Associate Dr. Andrew Lam. Dr. Andrew Lam is a visionary surgeon, esteemed author, and assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Lam takes us behind the scenes of his upcoming Smithsonian Associates presentation, "Rivalries in Medicine: How Humanity Can Benefit from the Worst in People." For more information about Dr. Lam's Smithsonian Associates presentation, please check out our show notes, but today, Dr. Lam will share a ‘tease' from his latest book, "The Masters of Medicine," revealing the mavericks, the moments, and the mistakes that have sparked the greatest medical discoveries of our times, along with more about his upcoming Smithsonian Associates presentation. Dr. Lam will tell us today about how we, as a society, should channel our competitive nature for the greater good? How do rivalries shape the advancements that push humanity forward?  From the battlefields of ego and personal vendettas between legends like Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch to the contemporary corridors of cutting-edge medical research, we explore how these personal conflicts have paradoxically paved the way for innovations that define modern medicine. Join us for an unforgettable exploration of how, in the quest to outdo one another, we often end up doing the best for all. This is not just a lesson from history; it's a blueprint for the future. Stay tuned, engage with curiosity, and let's discover together the incredible ways in which humanity's worst traits have, against all odds, led to some of our greatest achievements. Welcome to the Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series on radio and podcast, and our returning guest, Dr. Andrew Lam. My thanks to Smithsonian Associate Dr. Andrew Lam.  Smithsonian Associate Dr. Andrew Lam will be appearing at Smithsonian Associates coming up, and the title of his presentation, "Rivalries in Medicine: How Humanity Can Benefit from the Worst in People." For more information about Dr. Lam's Smithsonian Associates presentation please check out our show notes today. My thanks to the Smithsonian team for all they do to support the show.  My thanks to you, our wonderful audience here on radio and podcast.  Please be well, be safe, and Let's Talk About Better™.  The Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series on radio and podcast.  Thanks, everybody and we'll see you next week.  For more information about Smithsonian Associates, please click here: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/rivalries-in-medicine

In this episode, Trudy Goodman speaks with Tyler Lapkin of the Joseph Campbell Foundation.One of the earliest teachers of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Trudy taught with its creator, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn at the MBSR clinic at University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1983. In 1995 she co-founded, and is still the Guiding Teacher at the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy, the first center in the world dedicated to exploring the synergy of these two disciplines. She was an early adopter and now smiles  seeing mindfulness everywhere.After becoming a mother, Trudy was fascinated by human development, and studied w Jean Piaget in Geneva, Carol Gilligan, Lawrence Kohlberg, and Jerome Bruner at Harvard. Trudy co-founded a school for distressed children, practicing mindfulness-based psychotherapy with children, parents, teenagers, couples and individuals. She enjoys the company of kids of all ages and has kept her own child-like wonder and curiosity about the world she loves.Since 1974, Trudy has devoted much of her life to practicing Buddhist meditation with great Asian and Western teachers in the Zen and Theravada traditions. From 1991 to 1998, Trudy was a resident Zen teacher at the Cambridge Buddhist Association. She then moved to Los Angeles and founded InsightLA, the first center in the world to combine training in both Buddhist Insight (Vipassana) Meditation and non-sectarian mindfulness and compassion practices. Trudy has always been a connector of people, spiritual traditions, cultures, and communities, carrying her Zen delight across the divides.Trudy has trained a new generation of teachers, mindfulness humanitarians who make mindfulness and meditation classes available for professional caregivers, social justice and environmental activists, first responders, teachers, and unsung individuals working on the front lines of suffering – all done with tenderness, courage and a simple commitment to holding hands together.Trudy conducts retreats and workshops worldwide – from the hallowed halls of Mazu Daoyi's Ch'an monastery in China, to leading trainings on the ground in the intense heat of Darfuri refugee camps in Eastern Chad on the Sudanese border. She has loved it all. Trudy is still creating new projects and good trouble wherever she can. Details to be found in her forthcoming memoir!In the conversation today we discuss her life, meditation, mindfulness, and her perspective on the famous Campbell quote, "Participate Joyfully in the sorrows of the world".To learn more about Trudy visit: https://www.trudygoodman.com/ For more information on the MythMaker Podcast Network and Joseph Campbell, visit JCF.org. To subscribe to our weekly MythBlasts go to jcf.org/subscribeThe Podcast With A Thousand Faces is hosted by Tyler Lapkin and is a production of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. It is produced by Tyler Lapkin. Executive producer, John Bucher. Audio mixing and editing by Charles Mallett.All music exclusively provided by APM Music (apmmusic.com)

Kabat-Zinn on the nitty gritty practicalities of starting a practice, being fully present with no agenda, and letting go of “the story of me.”Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, is professor of medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Back in the 1970s, he came up with something called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, or MBSR, which is a secular way of teaching Buddhist meditation. He's written many books, including Full Catastrophe Living; Wherever You Go, There You Are; and Coming to Our Senses. His latest book is called Mindfulness Meditation for Pain Relief.In this episode we talk about:The nitty gritty practicalities of starting a practiceHow he's learned to be more relaxed about his practice—including advocating for meditating in bed How to practice being fully present with no agenda How investigating your motivations—something most people don't do— can help you be more mindful How to practice letting go of “the story of me”Related Episodes:Tripping Out with a Legend: Jon Kabat-Zinn on Pain vs. Suffering, Rethinking Your Anxiety, and the Buddha's Teaching in a Single SentenceJon Kabat-Zinn | Meditation as a Love AffairJon Kabat-Zinn, Creator of Mindfulness-Based Stress ReductionSign up for Dan's weekly newsletter hereFollow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTokTen Percent Happier online bookstoreSubscribe to our YouTube ChannelOur favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular EpisodesFull Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/jon-kabat-zinn-2024See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is also sponsored by PearsonRavitz– helping physicians protect their most valuable assets.  Also sponsored by Freed.AI - Get 50% off your first month of using their AI-powered medical scribe software! Just add PGD50 to your cart! In this special episode, we revisit the top three fan-favorite episodes of the 'Physician's Guide to Doctoring.' Our journey begins with Episode 96, featuring Dr. Sarah Smith, who shares revolutionary strategies for tackling charting backlogs, enhancing efficiency in medical documentation. Next, Episode 200 takes us into the world of Dr. Naomi Lawrence-Reid, where she discusses leveraging medical training to create diverse income streams, offering insights into the versatility and adaptability of medical expertise. Finally, Episode 189 with Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger delves into the universal challenge of achieving work-life balance, providing practical tips and strategies for physicians to manage their professional and personal lives effectively. These episodes not only offer valuable practical advice but also reflect the evolving landscape of medical practice and the personal endeavors of physicians. More on each episode: Physician Charting Coaching - Strategies to Save Time, Improve Efficiency, And Get More Done! Released September 6, 2021 Dr. Sarah Smith is a family physician and charting coach. She specializes in helping physicians with our charting backlog so we can get home on time without the looming cloud of unfinished charts and callbacks.  We discuss how to add efficiency to your day by making sure you are laser focused on your patient and you aren't finished until that chart is closed. This frees up mental space for the next patient, making that visit a bit more efficient. By the end of your morning, have a plan for how you are going to tackle callbacks. We also discuss dictation, scribes, templates, and how this is all easier said than done. She went to medical school at the University of Western Australia and has worked in primarily rural communities as a family physician, and is now in Edson, Alberta, Canada. Dr. Smith is a certified life coach and knows firsthand the experience of never being done and having unfinished charts and inboxes begging for your attention.  She has hundreds of hours of experience coaching many physicians in the outpatient setting with improving their office and workplace efficiency and finding solutions to getting their work done during their clinical day. You can find her at chartingcoach.ca. Using Your Medical Training for Multiple Income Streams with Naomi Lawrence-Reid, MD Published Jun 07, 2022 Naomi Lawrence-Reid, M.D. is a pediatrician and founder of Doctoring Differently, a course and coaching platform designed to teach physicians of all specialties how to transition out of full-time clinical and academic practice while starting lucrative and flexible careers that best utilize their medical training and experience. We discuss all of her different income streams, like per-diem, locum tenens, veteran and social security disability exams, medical expert witness work, aesthetics, how she got into each of them, how we can get started, and why it is OK for a pediatrician to inject Botox into adults. Dr. Lawrence-Reid initially intended on a career as a pediatric emergency medicine specialist, but she was unwilling to yield to the confines of restrictive hospital contracts, non-negotiable salaries, exhaustive administrative duties, and oppressive call schedules. She developed the Doctoring Differently curriculum in order to give physicians the tools to choose themselves and transform their individual passions and expertise into gratifying careers with increased income, tremendous freedom, and enhanced quality of life. Dr. Lawrence-Reid is a proud Boston-area native currently based in San Diego, California. She attended Wake Forest University, University of Massachusetts Medical School, and she completed her pediatrics residency at Children's Hospital at Montefiore/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York. You can find her at www.doctoringdifferently.com Get Organized for Better Work-Life Balance with Sarah Hart-Unger, MD Published May 02, 2022 Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger is a pediatric endocrinologist, who did all of her education at Duke, and is now the pediatric residency program director at Joe Dimaggio Children's Hospital in South Florida.  She is intrigued by the challenges of making work and life fit together — so much that she cohosts a podcast on the topic, Best of Both Worlds, with time management expert and writer Laura Vanderkam. She is married to a vascular surgeon and has three young children, so we discuss how they manage get it all done using the Getting Things Done methodology.  We talk about how checklists aren't just critical in central line placement and she has her own checklist manifesto to get your day, your month, and your life more organized. She has some favorite apps although she finds paper keeps her more organized. She tries to help me get organized so I don't end up thinking about all the things I need to do while I'm playing with my kids and then tries to convince me to keep my desk clean. In addition to her podcast, you can find her at theshubox.com.   The apps she mentioned were todoist.com and cozi.com. Did ya know…  You can also be a guest on our show? Please email me at brad@physiciansguidetodoctoring.com to connect or visit www.physiciansguidetodoctoring.com to learn more about the show! Socials: @physiciansguidetodoctoring on FB  @physicianguidetodoctoring on YouTube @physiciansguide on Instagram and Twitter

Genève Allison, an attending physician in infectious diseases, shares her journey since graduating from Harvard. She took a leave of absence from work in 2023, which was not something she would have predicted but turned out to be one of the best things she's done. Her journey began with working in a research lab and meeting physicians, leading her to pursue medicine as a career. She went to the University of Massachusetts Medical School and completed a residency in infectious diseases before returning to Boston to pursue infectious diseases at Tufts. Methods of Recovering from Burnout During the pandemic, Genève experienced burnout and emotional exhaustion. She sought support from her primary care doctor, who helped her get a medical leave for three months. This allowed her to heal from the trauma and work on toxic habits that can lead to burnout. She believes that we don't talk enough about taking care of ourselves in society, and she wants to share her experience on the 92 Report to inspire others to reach out for help.  Genève's leave of absence was a time for her to try everything, including therapy, journaling, and writing exposure therapy. She used specific therapy notebooks to process traumatic events and write about them in detail, which helped her dissipate the stress and improve her mental health. She also participated in a pottery class, which was enjoyable and allowed her to get out of her perfectionistic stressful mindset. Genève talks about the fundamental need to make things with our hands, such as building a shed, baking, knitting, gardening, and pottery. During the pandemic, baking became a major concern, and people talked about sourdough as a solution. The conversation also touches on the importance of taking time off from work to maintain a healthy lifestyle, such as playing the flute or attending therapy sessions. A Physician's Personal Experiences during the Pandemic The conversation shifts to her personal experiences during the pandemic. She felt scared that she didn't care enough to be a doctor, which led her to take time off. However, she found that her caring barometer was off, and she realized that she had to care for patients and their well-being. She talks about experience as an infectious disease specialist during the pandemic. She describes the surreal and bizarre situation of being the only person on her train to go to work, especially in the pediatrics where the inpatient pediatrics floor was converted into an adult Intensive Care Unit due to the need for ventilators. Genève shares her experiences with fighting with elderly chaplains who would enter patients rooms with COVID, despite not having vaccines yet. The suffering experienced by patients dying of COVID was beyond what the physician was prepared for. Patients were not allowed to have families present at their bedside, and nurses were at their bedside when they were dying. This was unimaginably painful for both the patient and their family. The emotional labor that comes with being present at a loved one's death is also difficult to witness. Factors Leading to Burnout Genève explains that a mix of things led to her burnout, including perfectionism, type A behaviors, and restlessness. The pandemic magnified these issues, as the work was never going to be done, and recommendations were constantly changing. She realized that she needed to take care of herself and figure out fixed beliefs that she couldn't prioritize. This led to therapy and the realization that she needed to prioritize herself over her work. She discusses how her approach to work has changed over the years. She now takes secondary prevention, such as avoiding smoking, exercising, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. She now focuses on self-care and taking care of her mental health, which has helped her avoid burnout in the future. Genève uses an analogy of a heart attack, where people talk about secondary prevention because they don't want another heart attack. Healing from Burnout Genève talks about her skepticism about their energetic capacity and their decision to say no more often. She mentions that she has said no to various activities, such as being part of a research committee or helping a research group. She also mentions that being tired is not a character flaw but a human emotion. She talks about acupuncture and that some studies suggest it has no scientific impact, but the placebo effect may play a role. She acknowledges that there is a lot of literature on the meridians used in acupuncture and the physiological correlates of these effects. During her training in California, she became best friends with a physician who had trained in both allopathic medicine and acupuncture and herbs. They worked together on a residency and have since worked with a group where she does acupuncture for patients undergoing chemotherapy to alleviate side effects. Her motivation for doing acupuncture was due to physical symptoms of burnout, such as migraines, dizziness, and neck pain from stress. She experienced an immediate improvement in their well-being after receiving needles in their legs, which she continues to maintain. The Field of Infectious Disease Genève talks about why she was interested in the Infectious disease field. She mentions that it is a fascinating field that involves solving puzzles and figuring things out when others cannot. It's a satisfying field where doctors can make diagnoses, create treatment plans, and see people get better.    Influential Harvard Professors and Courses Genève shares her experiences with mentorship and support from Carl Liam, a professor of biology and an IQ theologist. His mentorship and belief in him made a huge difference during their sophomore year, helping her become better mentors and learn that stumbles are normal parts of life. She emphasizes the importance of seeking help for medical professionals, as many doctors commit suicide every day due to fear of losing their licenses.    Links: https://www.tuftsmedicalcenter.org/PhysicianDirectory/Geneve-Allison.aspx https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/resources/the-body-keeps-the-score https://www.medscape.com/sites/public/lifestyle/2023 https://shop.therapynotebooks.com/products/after-trauma-notebook?gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwm66pBhDQARIsALIR2zAqJRHjPOAmEqoK44NVYKpdCGYch0GbFgWxQiLrq-yB5UVcRQHaGDkaAgepEALw_wcB&tw_adid=599080069633&tw_campaign=16508759695&tw_source=google https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_and_Medical_Leave_Act_of_1993 https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/22641-emdr-therapy https://www.acgme.org/globalassets/PDFs/ten-facts-about-physician-suicide.pdf https://drlornabreen.org/ https://iwgdfguidelines.org/allison/

Dr. Steven Krueger is a board certified dermatologist and Mohs micrographic surgeon.   After graduating from Boston College, Dr. Krueger earned his medical degree at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He completed a transitional year internship at Harvard Medical School, and then returned to the University of Massachusetts to complete his dermatology residency followed by a Mohs micrographic surgery fellowship. Throughout his training, Dr. Krueger received several awards for his academic achievement, leadership abilities, and commitment to service. He has written and presented numerous journal articles, poster presentations, lectures, and textbook chapters on various topics in dermatology.    As a procedural dermatologist, Dr. Krueger is passionate about providing safe and effective treatments that are backed by research. After removing a skin cancer, he uses advanced reconstructive techniques to restore the skin's natural form. When performing cosmetic procedures, he combines a conservative and artistic approach with state-of-the-art technology to make patients look and feel their best.   Dr. Krueger is a proud husband and father. He enjoys eating Armenian food, spinning on his Peloton, gardening, traveling, and celebrating life's milestones with his family and friends. You can also listen to Dr. Krueger on his personal podcast, "Road to Rank". If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with other students interested in dermatology!   For questions, comments, or future episode suggestions, please reach out to us via email at derminterestpod@gmail.com   Contact: DIGA: @derminterest Host: @diosa.mocha (IG) ; @diosa_derm (Twitter) Guest: @kruegermd (IG) ; @StevenKruegerMD (Twitter)   Music: District Four by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3662-district-four   License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license   Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/derminterest/message   --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/derminterest/message

My life has been intertwined with PTSD/Trauma and the military. Not only am I the daughter of a Vietnam Veteran, I was also married to an active duty member (and Iraq/Afghanistan Veteran) for over 20 years. For 3 years, I volunteered at the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Riley, Kansas providing yoga therapy, meditation, and other holistic treatments to the soldiers, family members, and staff. After seeing others struggle, and having my own personal struggles with trauma/PTSD, I was inspired to create the Trauma Healing Yoga Therapy Program. As a Yoga Therapist and founder of the Trauma Healing Yoga Therapy Program, I guide others in the use of effective, science based yoga therapy and other holistic techniques for the management/healing of symptoms relating to PTSD and trauma for people who want to control their PTSD - not allow it to control them. Recently, I have focused my efforts to working with women who have been sexually traumatized to help them heal their PTSD (and other trauma related issues) with yoga therapy. As a 2x rape survivor, I intimately understand the needs these women face, and help them navigate their healing journeys. I earned my 200 RYT, 500 RYT and was awarded my Certification in Yoga Therapy from the International Association of Yoga Therapy. Additionally, I have completed a 120 Hour YogaFit Warriors training and the MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) online course through the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Currently a student with the Phoenix Rising School of Yoga Therapy, I'm learning another approach to utilizing yoga to help release trauma from the body. I work with people with all types of physical conditions, however, I specialize in working with those suffering from PTSD, TBI's and all trauma-related issues and have been for over the past 5 years.  The Trauma Healing Yoga Therapy

“ … it's really fascinating actually like the human, at the biological level at the psychological level, we are built to tolerate pain, and we're built to grow stronger from enduring difficulty, we're actually made for it. That's like how it works. Joy matters too - don't get me wrong, you know, but the difficult stuff is always there. So, we might as well get good at utilizing that end of the spectrum as well.” Ralph De La Rosa   Music with kind permission from Krishna Das https://www.krishnadas.com/ Gathering in the light-Om-Narayani. Krishna Das. https://krishnadasmusic.com/collections/music/products/gathering-in-the-light   What is this and why read or listen? What follows is an exploration of my journey of living with chronic pain and accompanying mental health challenges. I now understand, the experience of mental ill health has contributed to the degree and severity with which I have felt this pain.   I started collating my thoughts around the idea of exploring chronic physical pain, and how meditation might help as an intervention to assist people living with these conditions, to experience less suffering. As we will discuss in a bit, pain, whether is physical, emotional, or social, is experienced in similar parts of the brain. So is you know someone who experiences any of these challenges, there may be something in here that might help.   So primarily, we will look at how using a meditative practice might help to reduce suffering, reclaim access to moments of joy and openness and foster the ability to be able to pursue a life worth living, in the presence of pain. Someone once sent me a post on social media with a picture and a quote saying “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.” I was near vomiting with a migraine at the time, so there was no dancing to be done and the message was not received with the love it was sent with.   I think it's important to mention that there is no part of my life that living with chronic pain has not affected. I remember sitting in a psychologist's office on the North Side of Brisbane, and I was quiet for quite a while, trying to curate the thoughts so that I could adequately relay how desperate I felt, but not so much so that I have a short involuntary time in hospital. The words that came out of my mouth spoke to the total sense of loss that I felt as a result of living with chronic pain and the ‘things' that I was not able to do or participate in as a result – “Am I even lovable?” I choked out, in tears. I am not sure what my psychologist answered.   In mental health circles they often talk about the biopsychosocial contributors to understanding mental ill health, and that a clear understanding of these can be the bedrock to solid recovery. It's fair to say and not at all dramatic to say that living with chronic pain for the last 14 years has nearly cost me my life, my marriage, and my grip on sanity. So, the fact that I am writing this, and that this episode is being produced is testament to the fact that recovery is definitely possible.   Recovery as I've come to understand it is a concept which is defined by each person as to how they might like to live despite the challenges they face, be they mental health, chronic physical health or other challenge.   Having a living experience of chronic and persistent pain, has also come with many gifts. This is one of the reasons for this episode - I would like to be able to pass these gifts forward so that hopefully, wherever you are on your journey, whether it's living with chronic pain, mental health or other challenge, that you may find a point of resonance here and maybe a tool that you can add to your toolkit. The second reason is that this forms part of an assessment for an advanced diploma in meditation. Having skin in the game as it were, I feel like I may have a bit of an advantage, by way of lived experience. However this works meets you, may you be well, play be happy may you be safe and may you live at ease of heart with whatever comes to you in life.   “What counts in battle is what you do when the pain sets in.” John Short   The quote above comes from a book that I read about 14 years ago from Dean Karnases called Ultra Marathon Man. In the book Dean talks about nearing the end of one of the ultra marathons, that he ran, with several injuries and nothing left in the tank. Dean's dad offers some advice and empathy, but as he's about to walk away he says “what counts in battle is what you do when the pain sets in”. This has become somewhat of a guidepost for me,  as I explored the terrain chronic physical and emotional pain.   Towards the end, I will include a selection of resources and links. In hosting the Don't Quit on Me podcast, I have spoken with a variety of subject matter experts, in an effort to understand ways to navigate intense stress and pain, in the most intelligently, i.e with the least amount of suffering possible.   A key point from the show comes to mind, talked about by Dr Dan Harvey and Insight Meditation teacher Sebene Selassie, about the experience of emotional, social pain and physical pain being processed in similar parts of the brain. In my very limited understanding, this means that tools that help to reduce suffering for physical pain, may also be useful for the experience of social and emotional pain.   Skin in the Game   “It is indeed a radical act of love just to sit down and be quiet for a time by yourself”. Jon Kabat-Zinn   It's just after 4am and the birds are starting to sing. First one … then another… during the dawn chorus their songs seem louder, livelier and more urgent than during the day. Maybe they seize this space to sing, before the noise of the day can interrupt their beautiful, melodic songs that call each day in to being.   I am awake at this time most mornings. This morning a sequence of experiences; a conjoined blur - pain from a decent tension headache that has been hanging around for days, coupled with pain from fibromyalgia, panic and it's cousin a dense cognitive fog – the residue of a nightmare – I still sense, something dark, very close, too close to see, temporarily I can't move.   As consciousness returns, and with-it, limited movement, I go through the morning ritual, an attempt to ease the pain and fog, and see how much I am able to function and extract from the day. Off to the loo, two bottles of water and then into a portable infrared sauna, to warm up the heaviness living in the muscles and connective tissue, and with any luck subdue the constant companion. Infrared Sauna is also starting to be looked at as a tool for living with chronic pain conditions. (Tsagkaris et al., 2022)   I have a living experience with chronic migraines, tension headaches and fibromyalgia, something that has been around for roughly the last 14 years. Each day is a balancing act between the pain, the anxiety caused by the pain, my energy levels, and as I am beginning to understand and will touch on later, any sense of imminent danger that I may perceive. Each day, an attempt to balance accomplishment without overtaxing a system in survival mode, so much that I pay for it for the coming days.   There are a couple of reasons why the pain may have become such a permanent fixture in my life, and I'll explore them briefly, but one thing I have noticed, is that focusing on why is nowhere near as helpful as what now. If I look back for a point of origin with the physical pain several things happened around the time it started; my mom's passed away, I also trained for a marathon, before which I came down with a respiratory virus. Post race I had blood work done which showed Ross River virus and another virus had been present in my system but were not currently active. I am also a survivor childhood trauma which in and of itself heightens someone's baseline perception of threat and as we'll explore can accentuate and amplify the body's attempt to report pain signals. There is also a strong correlation between trauma survivors and chronic pain sufferers (Asmundson, PTSD and the experience of pain: Research and clinical implications of shared vulnerability and mutual maintenance models).   In 1994 Dr Paul brand wrote the book Pain the Gift That Nobody Wants, describing his work with leprosy patients in India, and the essential role that pain has in keeping us safe. Without , he argues, we would be exposed to an unacceptable level of danger, leaving us devoid of mechanisms to warn us of impending threat.   If I think about my own experience, this is certainly a truism - pain by its very nature, and the way we experience it, is deeply unpleasant, very real, and is designed to get our attention and cause us to recoil. It is a message for us to act, to protect ourselves from the perceived threat. What happens through, when these signals fall out of calibration, when they report pain too loudly or for too long - when there is no longer a present threat that requires us to act, or the message we are receiving is disproportionate to the threat?   This is something I have sat with and worked through for many years, leading to this exploration of how the practice of meditation may be helpful to those, like me, who live with chronic pain.   As I said earlier, through hosting the Don't Quit on Me podcast I have had the opportunity to ask many people for their insights about the nature of pain, and why creating mental space around the experience of pain can reduce suffering. I have also looked at the links between how we experience physical pain and emotional pain, and how they are felt in similar parts of the brain.   Can meditation really help with pain? An article published in May 2023 on Healthline.com, looked at exactly this, Meditation for Chronic Pain Management and, spoiler alert, they found, amongst other things, the following three key points:   “A 2018 study of meditation, mindfulness, and the brain suggested that in the long term, meditation can change the structure of your brain. The resulting change in cortical thickness in some brain areas makes you less pain-sensitive. The neural mechanisms meditation uses to modify pain are different from those used by other techniques. For example, a 2012 studyTrusted Source determined that meditation promoted cognitive disengagement and an increased sensory processing of the actual pain. Meditation also induces the body's own opioid system. A very small, randomized, double-blind study from 2016 used the opioid blocker naloxone or a placebo and studied pain reduction with meditation. The group with the placebo experienced significantly less pain than the group that had the opioid blocker. Research is ongoing to look at the exact physiological mechanisms involved with meditation.” (Hecht, 2020)   That Sounds Painful   What is Pain?   Dr Dan Harvey is a Lecturer in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy and a pain scientist at the University of South Australia.  Along with Dr Lorimer Moseley, Dan is an author of the book 'Pain and The Nature of Perception: A New Way to Look at Pain' which uses visual illusions to describe features of perception that are relevant to understanding and treating pain. Dan holds a Masters of Musculoskeletal and Sports Physiotherapy, a chronic pain focussed PhD, and serves on the education committees for the Australian Pain Society and Pain Revolution. Below is and excerpt from my interview with Dan (Coriat, Dr Daniel Harvey - The path through pain 2022): I asked Dan about his preferred definition for pain. Dan said “ the official definition from the international association for the study of pain, “Pain is an unpleasant, sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.”” He went on to say: “... I prefer a simpler definition, which is just something that's unpleasant that has a location to it. The location part is what distinguishes pain from other unpleasant experiences. I guess anxiety for example is very unpleasant, but you can't point to it. You know, you could simplify my definition even further … It's (pain) something unpleasant you can point to. Because it's certainly unpleasant, but it's unique from other unpleasant experiences, in that it actually has a location, usually in the body, but obviously the exception to that is something like phantom limb pain. You can still point to the pain, but you are effectively pointing in mid air. Because you're experiencing it in a location of the body which no longer exists.”   The Mental and Psychological Experience of Pain   I asked Dan about the similarities between psychological and physical pain. “There's a lot of overlap. … one of the early discoveries when we started using imaging techniques to see what was happening in the brain of people in pain, was that we discovered that there is no one pain area, but rather it's many different areas that seem to be active. And there's something about that combination of brain areas that gives rise to the experience. Many of those areas that are active overlap with areas associated with anxiety and fear and other unpleasant experiences. And I guess that's one reason why we might see a higher prevalence of persistent pain problems in people who tend to be higher in trait, anxiety and depression, and maybe even have clinical levels of anxiety and depression. We think there's some sense in which brain areas that are active, and resulting in anxiety, facilitate the networks associated with pain and sort of have this facilitating effect.   On this point, when I spoke with much loved Insight Meditation teacher Sebene Selassie, I asked her the following question (Coriat, Dr Daniel Harvey - The path through pain 2022):   Nick: “I've heard you say in an interview. You were talking about the pain you experienced during cancer, and how it started to become a predictive response, you would feel some pain and you would assume that that would continue, and it would be without break. However, when you deepened your practice, you discovered that you could find spaces between the pain. Could you talk about this. And also, I think if there's a link to how many of us are experiencing pain, and when we do feel pain, obviously there's an instinctual response to assume it's going to be ongoing and be to kind of self-medicate...”   Sebene: “I could talk about physical pain, and just to name that this is true for social pain as well, because actually, our brains process them in the same way. So physical pain and social pain are processed in the same parts of the brain. So, you know, our perceptions of them are really similar and so predicated on what's happened in the past. You know, we build kind of our perceptual reality based on what we've seen before. So, you know, I have a mic in front of me, if I've never seen a mic before, you know, but then I learned what it is every time I see something shaped like this, I'm going to assume it's a mic, and I don't have to kind of go through the relearning process to figure it out. Our brain kind of builds up that knowing something, and that's useful for a lot of things, but it's not very useful in kind of a moment-to-moment sensory experience of a sensation or emotion, or, other people's emotions or speech or relationship with us. And so again, whether it's physical pain or social pain, like our interactions with others, we really want to develop, through this capacity of mindfulness, of embodied awareness of what's happening, the capacity to sense what's happening moment to moment. Instead of, you know, I see Nick and the last time Nick and I met, you know, we had a little bit of a misunderstanding, and now I'm going to interpret every different look of his as some kind of critique of me. Rather than meeting you fresh and deciding, you know, Nick has bad days too, and I'm gonna see what today brings rather than the assumption of, you know, what my experience has been in the past.  And that's what I experienced with physical pain that I went through some periods of really, really painful surgeries or treatments or emergency conditions that emerged in my body and even lying in the hospital or at home experiencing this pain, I could kind of predictably assume, oh, there's that sensation in my belly. I know what that's going to lead to. And so, start to kind of almost anticipate and tense and create more tension and pain and not really have a moment to moment kind of intimate experience of what was happening. And when I could slow down, actually connect to this embodied awareness, feel the sensation in my belly, I could see that, Oh yeah, it's this throbbing strong pain, but now it's actually dissipated.  When I breathe really deeply, actually it creates some space there and now my foot's going numb. I actually don't even really feel this pain in my belly right now. So, rather than having kind of this fixated fear, tense attention to things there internally our own physical or emotional experience, or externally what's going on with someone, we kind of create more spaciousness, create kind of more awareness, bring some relaxation and ease to what's happening, and that can often change everything for us.”   The Mechanisms of Pain   Back to the chat with Dan, I asked him if there was a simple way to understand the mechanisms that drive or report the experience of pain. “I'm not sure if there's a simple way, but a way we like to break it down in the physio program is thinking about inputs, processing and outputs. So, what this does is just let you think about the different components that might be happening in the background that lead to an experience of pain. The input is (comprises) the information that arrives at the brain, so some of that information comes through nerves in the body. Some of it also comes through our eyes and ears, because our brain is always gathering data, about what's happening in our bodies and what's happening in the world. So, we can refer to those things as inputs. Of course, information from the body is really important, particularly in acute pain. But the other inputs are also really important. I could give an example there. A paper cut might hurt extraordinarily, but someone could actually fracture a bone in their foot, in a football game and not notice it. So, there's something about the totality of data, not just the information itself from the body, but what it's combined with at a given time. So that's the inputs. The processing is about what's happening in the brain. So, how is the brain interpreting that data, and how's it making sense of it. In order to make sense of it, the brain considers not just the inputs, but also, what those inputs mean with respect to information that's already stored in the brain, from past experience, from knowledge, from what the doctor told you, from what you read on a scan, all of these things are also influential, when the brain is interpreting what's happening in the body. So, all of those things can potentially have an influence as well. So that's inputs and processing. Then we can think about outputs. And these days we actually think about pain as an output because anatomical textbooks used to describe pain as an input from the body in the quote unquote pain nerves, which we now call nociceptors or danger detectors. But the pain isn't pain until we experience it. And so, because of that fact, we tend to think of it as an output. My physio students always say an output to where though? And I think that the best way to phrase that is it's an output from our brains into our conscious awareness -  and that's much more philosophical than it is scientific, but I think we know so little about the brain that sometimes philosophy is the best way to explain and articulate these sort of things. You know, pain exists amongst a range of outputs. So often when you have pain, you also have some level of fear about it. You might have muscle tension associated with it, along with stress responses, go hormonal responses like cortisol, and then that can interact with the immune system. And so what's happening there can then feed back into the system in a sort of circular way.”       Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.   I asked Dan about a quote that iI heard him make in a lecture “Reality leaves a lot to the imagination. ” I think some background to this is that the brain is bombarded with so much sensory information at a given time, that it needs some sort of method to make sense of all that data, because there remember what comes to the brain from our sensors is merely electrical impulses. It's  (the brain's) task is to filter out the irrelevant ones and make sense of the relevant ones. What seems to seems to be happening is the brain uses its past experience and knowledge that it already has stored to determine what's the irrelevant information that it can filter out, and how it might make sense of the relevant information and give us feelings and perceptions that help us make sense of the world and our bodies and help to guide our actions in a way that you know, helps us to flourish and promotes our survival and all that. So again, it's quite, it's quite philosophical … I think there's still a lot to be drawn out of that way of thinking that can help people with pain. I think we are really just at the start of that. I guess it's only fairly recently that we've moved from continuing to look for some ‘Magic bullet' or some specific problem in the body. We've started to open our minds to looking more broadly about what's happening in the immune system and in the brain and our perceptual system more broadly.”   A New Reality? Based on what Dan was saying it's interesting to also note that a study in 2018 at Harvard showed that short daily doses of meditation can literally grow the grey matter in the areas of the brain associated with self-awareness and self-compassion, and can reduce the grey matter in the parts of the brain associated with stress. This to me and, obviously to the researchers is incredibly promising for those who are walking a path accompanied by pain of any kind - that a no/low cost intervention, that is simple to instigate, with little known side effects, can have this profound an effect. (Powell, Harvard researchers study how mindfulness may change the brain in depressed patients 2018) What is Meditation?   Meditation sort of hit me in the face in the late ‘90s. I was working at a bank at the time, as a technical writer, and was experiencing what I have now come to understand as early signs of a severe depression episode. I wondered up the Queen Street mall in Brisbane, and there was a Virgin Music Store off to left. In there they had listening stations with a selection of some of the newest CDs to have a listen to. This lunch break I felt like I was about to break. I made my way in to the classical room which was sectioned off from the rest of the store by a glass wall. On one stand was a CD by a fella called Robert Gass, singing, with his choir, Om. The primordial syllable over and over for about 30 minutes. As I pushed passed the initial boredom, I was transported to a world where things were calm, still and all that was present was this moment. What is meditation? Well, it depends on who you ask. After having asked many people for definitions of what meditation and mindfulness are one definition of Mindfulness shared by Dr Christine Runyan I loved for it's simplicity and humanness. Christine is a clinical health psychologist, Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and the Co-Founder of Tend Health. Christine is also a mindfulness teacher at the University of Massachusetts Centre for Mindfulness. I asked Christine during the show how she defines Mindfulness, and what it meant to her: (Coriat, Dr Christine Runyan - Mental Health and covid - On Forgiveness and Healing 2021) Christine: “So, I define mindfulness both as present moment awareness, but I add the quality of compassion, if you will. You know compassion is often a term we think of around the presence of suffering.  All our present moment experiences don't include suffering, so in moments where there are, I would say present moment with awareness with compassion, and maybe if there's not suffering, present moment awareness with kindness. I think that standard Jon Kabat-Zinn definition is without judgment. I find that whether you're parenting a child or sort of teaching an animal something, offering something to do rather than not to do can be a little more helpful right? So instead of don't do this, rather offer an instruction of something to do, and I've really come to that. And in my work, MBCT is a treatment for people who have recurrent depression and there is amount of judgment and self-judgment that comes alongside recurrent depression and experiencing that phenomenon. And so it can be a hard stop, cause it's sort of like they don't have a frame for how to be in a way that doesn't include self-judgment, so instead kind of an invitation to sort of have that present moment awareness with kindness can be an invitation of something to add rather than something not to do, because as soon as you sort of have that without judgment and people notice that they judge, you know then you start down the rabbit hole of judgment. So that's how I define it.”   Another description about what meditation is, comes from one of my favourite Buddhist teachers Pema Chodron. “Meditation is a process of lightning up, of trusting the basic goodness of what we have and who we are, and of realising that any wisdom that exists, exists in what we already have. We can lead our life so as to become more awake to who we are and what we're doing rather than trying to improve or change or get rid of who we are or what we're doing. The key is to wake up, to become more alert, more inquisitive and curious about ourselves.” There are a couple of points that I particularly like about what Pema said: 1)     We are already wise, despite what our inner monologue may tell us, and the limitations that the experience of being in pain has led us to believe. 2)     Many of us are sort of asleep to what's going on in our lives. This is understandable in the presence of persistent pain. One of the initial ways to deal with the constant onslaught of noxious stimuli is to literally disassociate from what's going on in the body. A critical part of the healing journey Is to become aware of the sensations in our body and learn to meet them with curiosity instead of an inbuilt narrative and catastrophizing. 3)     Curiosity and not self-condemnation is one of the keys to loosening the shackles of self-imposed suffering.   And lastly, I feel that no discussion on a definition of meditation would be complete without a word from one of the founders of insight meditation in the West. Sharon Salzberg is a meditation pioneer, world-renowned teacher, and New York Times bestselling author. She is one of the first to bring mindfulness and lovingkindness meditation to mainstream American culture over 45 years ago, inspiring generations of meditation teachers and wellness influencers. I spoke with Sharon in November of last year and asked her what is the invitation that meditation offers.   “Well, right from the beginning, I am going to introduce the idea of meditation as a skills training.  And the first night of the first retreat, (that Sharon attended) which is 10 days long, he said, the Buddha did not teach Buddhism. The Buddha taught way of life. And that's exactly what I was looking for. You know, he said, this is open to anybody. Maybe you belong to a different faith tradition. Maybe you don't really, feel drawn to faith traditions. Doesn't matter, it's a practice and, and it's like a muscle group. You exercise, you know, So the first skill is really concentration or stabilizing attention somewhat. Most of us would say we're kind of all over the place. You sit down to think something through, and you're gone, you're just gone. And our minds jump to the past, or the future and we're anxious and we're just all over the place. And what we do in concentration training, as we gather our attention, we bring it together and we rest, we settle. So, there's a very different sense of centeredness and settledness and just kind of stability in awareness. And then there's mindfulness training, which is kind of like the word of the hour, which can mean many different things. It does mean many things. And I like to think of mindfulness as a quality of awareness where our attention to what's happening in the present moment, our perception of what's happening in the present moment is not so distorted by bias, like old fears - I should never let myself feel this thing. Or many times something happens, especially let's say, it's discomfort in the body, or we feel a shattered expectation, or we feel disappointment, or heartache. We start projecting it into the future. Like, what's it gonna feel like tomorrow? It'll be even worse. What's gonna feel like next week? What's gonna feel like next month? And before we knew it, we've got like a whole lifetime of anticipated struggle as well as what's actually going on right now - that makes it of course, much harder. So, there are a lot of ways in which we have filters or we have distortions of our perception and what we learn to do is relinquish the hold of those things so we're left with what's actually happening and that's why mindfulness is set to be the vehicle for inside understanding. You know, instead of being all caught up in like fighting our experience or being overwhelmed by our experience, we can take a look at our experience and have a very different view of it and mixed up in there always both as a kind of a constituent element and later as a fruition or a benefit is loving kindness or kindness. I don't think you can actually do these practices well without, in a sneaky way, developing some loving kindness, even if it's never talked about. It's like, the fundamental exercise in many systems. Even if they grow and they change and it becomes a much more elaborate kind of practice. The foundational note, which we keep coming back to again and again, is usually choosing an object of awareness, like I'd say the feeling of the breath, the sensation of the in and out breath, resting our attention on that object, and then when our attention wanders, which it will, learning how to gently let go and come back. That sounds easy. Isn't that easy? You know? Because the great temptation as soon as we realize, oh, I'm not with the breath, is to judge ourselves and be down on ourselves, and berate ourselves and feel like a failure. You know, to actually let go and start over means there's a good degree of self-compassion that's developing also, even if we never name it that, even if we didn't even realize that it's happening, and so, to do any of these things well means that's cooking also. So, it will be there, it has to be there. And then of course it is like a fruition because the more we see, yeah, this is not just me, you know, it's like that sense of isolation was another addon. There was something else I plopped on top of what was going on. I don't need to do that. The more we see this is the human condition we're all trying, we're all kind of a mess, you know? Uh, and we wish ourselves well. We wish others well. That starts to get more and more natural.”   My Journey with Meditation    I first started a meditation practice through attending a yoga class. I was having a chat with the teacher at the end of the class, and I asked her for some tips on navigating the pain and suffering that I was going through, without overdoing it. She asked if I had experienced Kirtan before. I hadn't but heard in her explanation the word meditation, and this was something I wanted to explore more, as my sister had sent me a copy of the Jon Kabbat Zin book Full Catastrophy Living a few years earlier and the promise of stillness or calm inside stressful moments was very appealing. At the time I had an orange VW bus which I drove up to a yoga school just on the outskirts of Eumundi and enjoyed one of the strangest and yet most profound evenings that I've ever had. I was both fearful and intrigued, and at one point was wondering whether it should be experienced closed or eyes open, so as not to miss what was going on. As I closed my eyes, I could see a white light connecting all of our foreheads together. Powerful and strange. Given that this was my first ‘go' at it, I made my excuses and jumped in the van to go home, a little bit freaked out but pleasantly so. In retrospect I wonder what might have happened if I'd stayed. However I listened to a CD that I had bought from the studio at the beginning of the chant, all the way home and was instantly hooked. I bought a couple of yoga magazines and found out that Krishna Das was coming to Australia, immediately booked in for a workshop and Kirtan on two separate days at Palmwoods on the sunshine coast in QLD. Again I started the weekend in a decent amount of pain and experiencing very high levels of anxiety and severe depression, however by the end of the weekend I was beaming and felt such a strong bond to the people who I had been chanting with. It was quite unfathomable. I have a beautiful picture of myself with Krishna Das at the end the weekend. For many years mantra repetition became my default meditation. Something that I could pull out of my back pocket whether I was at work at home or out and about, a non pharmaceutical intervention that helped to center me and bring me out of the tyrany of cascading thoughts and more in to this moment – the only moment in which we have any say about what goes on. Many years later I interviewed KD for a book and he mentioned a quote by the Indian sage Ramana Maharishi; He said ‘“The only freedom we have is in the moment. How we meet each moment, how we meet each experience.” All the practices we do, bring us more into the moment, give us more of a sense of confidence in ourselves, and in just being. And from that deeper place, we can meet all the difficult things that come to us in life and all of the wonderful things that come to us in life, without being totally washed away by them or absorbed in them or lost in them. We can enjoy the beautiful things and we can allow the unhappy things to exist and pass away again.'   Now it's probably imprtant to clarify, mostly for my own understanding as I mix the two up, the difference between Kirtan and bhakti. Kirtan and bhakti are both related to the devotional singing of mantras, sacred names or praises of the divine. However, they are not exactly the same.   Kirtan is a form of call-and-response chanting that involves a leader and a group of participants. The leader sings a line of a mantra, and the group repeats it back. Kirtan is usually accompanied by musical instruments such as harmonium, tabla, mridanga, etc. Kirtan is a way of expressing love and devotion to the divine through sound and music. Kirtan can also help to cut through the illusion of separation and connect to the heart and the present moment.   Bhakti is a Sanskrit word that means “love, devotion, faith, loyalty, attachment”. Bhakti is one of the paths of yoga that focuses on cultivating a personal relationship with the divine through various practices such as kirtan, bhajan, japa, puja, etc. Bhakti is also a philosophical and theological concept that describes the nature of devotion and surrender to the supreme reality.   One of the differences between kirtan and bhakti is that kirtan is a specific practice or technique of bhakti, while bhakti is a broader term that encompasses various forms of devotion. Another difference is that kirtan is usually performed in a group setting, while bhakti can be practiced individually or collectively. A third difference is that kirtan follows a structured format of call-and-response, while bhakti can be more spontaneous and creative in expressing one's feelings and emotions.   KD also says of chant more generally ““It's like an older, deeper, bigger being. It's a space, a presence, a feeling. These names are the names of that place inside of us that is love, pure being, pure awareness, pure joy.” Kirtan—and other forms of mantra practice, such as seated meditation—help us uncover that place inside of us, he says: “our true nature.” (Kripalu Centre for Yoga and Health, 2021)     Over the follwing years I have adopted a fluid approach to meditation, utilising practices from Vedic, Buddhist and some secular Mindfulness traditions, and varying types of breathwork grounding and awareness of sound meditations. The important point to mention here is, I feel that, as a person living with pain, the last thing you probably need in your life is another stick to beat yourself with about what you should be doing. I think if the promise of a clamer mind, less catastrophising and less pain resonates with you, look for and try something that makes sense, or feels good you. Or more eloquently from the Buddha's teachings: “Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”     Self Compassion   Before we have a go at a practice to draw this to a close, it's essential to add a point that I touched on very briefly before, and that's the point of self-compassion. The most succinct way I've heard described, was by Liz Stanley: “I would just say it's really important (for listeners) to recognize that one of the ways we actually make things worse for ourselves, is when we let our thinking brains judgments about what might be going on in our mind and body, kind of get stuck because those judgements actually make things worse. So, to give an example, if somebody is experiencing chronic pain, and they're feeling self-judgment, or shame, or impatience, or anger, about the fact that they are feeling chronic pain, that kind of judgment and any narrative that the thinking brain might be kicking up around it ‘it shouldn't be this way', you know it was doing better, I should have done my exercises, any sort of stories that might be there, when the thinking brain does that, the survival brain perceives those thinking brain judgements as threatening. And so, it turns on even more stress arousal. So, if someone's experiencing discomfort and then they're judging it, they're actually making that stress arousal. Likewise, we often have habits to compare what's going on in us with someone else. Like we might experience a wave of anxiety about an upcoming test or something. And then the thinking brain's like, well, I shouldn't be anxious about that, that's not really a big deal. You know, this other person, well, they're dealing with this and this and this and this in comparison, what I'm dealing with is really not a problem. You can hear the judgment in that. And when the thinking brain starts, those kinds of comparing thoughts that devalue what's going on in our body, again, the survival brain finds that challenging, and it will turn on more stress arousal. So as much as possible, if someone is experiencing a wave of emotion or a wave of stress or defaulting to engage in a coping mechanism that they might not want to be engaging in, a habit they wish they could break - as much as possible just meet that experience with some kindness, and see if you can set that judging aside, because the judging is only making it worse. It's only making the, the survival brain that much more amped up.” (Coriat, Dr Christine Runyan - Mental Health and covid - on forgiveness and healing 2021)   That's the last thing I really wanted to say, Nick, because I know it's something I really struggled with”   Practice     References   Music throughout the podcast Das, K. (2007). Gathering in the light-Om-Narayani. Krishna Das. https://krishnadasmusic.com/collections/music/products/gathering-in-the-light   Other References Haggai et al, S. (2016, July). Mindfulness meditation modulates pain through endogenous opioids. The American Journal of Medicine. https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(16)30302-3/fulltext Zeidan et al., F. (2023, February). Disentangling self from pain: mindfulness meditation–induced pain relief is driven by thalamic–default mode network decoupling. Journal for the International Association for Pain. https://journals.lww.com/pain/Fulltext/2023/02000/Disentangling_self_from_pain__mindfulness.8.aspx Powell, A. (2018, August 27). Harvard researchers study how mindfulness may change the brain in depressed patients. Harvard Gazette. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/harvard-researchers-study-how-mindfulness-may-change-the-brain-in-depressed-patients/   Tsagkaris, C., Papazoglou, A. S., Eleftheriades, A., Tsakopoulos, S., Alexiou, A., Găman, M.-A., & Moysidis, D. V. (2022, March 14). Infrared radiation in the management of musculoskeletal conditions and chronic pain: A systematic review. European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8946909/   Hecht, M. (2020, September 4). Meditation for pain relief: What to know & how to try it. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/meditation-for-chronic-pain   Asmundson, G. J. (2022, December 2). PTSD and the experience of pain: Research and clinical implications of shared vulnerability and mutual maintenance models. Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12553128/   Coriat, N. (2022, October 20). Dr Daniel Harvey - The path through pain. Don't Quit on Me. https://www.podpage.com/dont-quit-on-me/dr-daniel-harvey-the-path-through-pain/   Coriat, N. (2021, March 11). Sebene Selassie - belonging in an age of disconnect. Don't Quit on Me. https://www.podpage.com/dont-quit-on-me/s1e3   Coriat, N. (2021, December 31). Dr Christine Runyan - Mental Health and covid - on forgiveness and healing. Don't Quit on Me. https://www.dontquiton.me/dr-christine-runyan-mental-health-and-covid-on-forgiveness-and-healing/   Center for Yoga and Health, K. (2021, July 11). The Beginners' Guide to Kirtan and Mantra. Kripalu. https://kripalu.org/resources/beginners-guide-kirtan-and-mantra

Our friend Dr. Michael Gervais at the Finding Mastery podcast is a renowned sports psychologist who found meditation by happenstance. We wanted to share this conversation he had with Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn about the mind/body interactions for healing and clinical applications for mindfulness meditation training. Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn is a Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where in 1995 he founded the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society and in 1979, its world-renowned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Clinic. Order Dr. Michael Gervais' new book here: https://findingmastery.com/book/Listen to the Finding Mastery podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/finding-mastery/id1025326955See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

21 min Jon Kabat- Zinn is today's resource.   Kabat-Zinn is a professor emeritus of the University of Massachusetts Medical School.  He received a Ph.D. in molecular biology for MIT in 1971. He is one of the earlier people in the health field to recognize the adverse effects of stress on health.   His book Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness (1991) leads today's conversation into this resource. Full Catastrophe Living - the title of his book, Pierre claims is the title of his, Pierre's, life.  Maureen mentions how Kabat-Zinn had to prevail with his editor to keep the word “catastrophe” in the book title.  Seems appropriate for these days and our lives.  Kabat-Zinn set up The Center of Mindfulness at Mass.  Winner of all kinds of awards, Kabat-Zinn was a leader in bringing the body into the health equation, and also into mindfulness space.  It's not all in your mind, and the solutions are not all in your mind.  There are complimentary effects in healing the whole person.  Where Ever You Go, There You Are - another title of Kabat-Zinn's.   And here you are!  Reading and listening to this podcast. We're glad you are here.  Enjoy this health resource as we explore together the nexus of literature and resources in the mind, body, spirit space.     Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS Enjoy this health resource as we explore together the nexus of literature and resources in the mind, body, spirit space.     Landscapes for Learning YogaHEALS

Dr. Suneel Dhand is board-certified in internal medicine. He was born in London and grew up in Berkshire, England. Suneel went to medical school at Cardiff University and then moved across the pond, completing his internal medicine residency in Baltimore, Maryland. He currently lives in Boston, and practices as a hospital medicine physician. Suneel's clinical interests include frontline healthcare quality improvement, improving hospital processes, enhancing patient experience, and healthcare information technology development and integration. He regularly writes about these topics. As well as his clinical duties as a frontline doctor (which he enjoys the most), Suneel has experience in the implementation of hospital IT systems, and was the lead hospital physician for the successful implementation of a Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) system in Worcester, Massachusetts. Suneel also has experience in a number of different healthcare environments and systems. In addition to practicing as a physician up and down the East coast, including in Florida, he previously worked in the United Kingdom's National Health Service, and undertook an elective experience in Australia, where he worked with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Suneel held a faculty position with the University of Massachusetts Medical School as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, regularly teaching medical residents and students. He has authored numerous articles in clinical medicine that have been published in leading medical journals, covering a wide range of specialty areas. He has also authored chapters in the “5-Minute Clinical Consult” medical textbook. His other main area of interest is preventive medicine and wellness, and he is the author of two well-being books; High Percentage Wellness Steps, and the historical fiction book, Thomas Jefferson: Lessons from a Secret Buddha. When he is not working in the hospital or on healthcare-related projects, Suneel enjoys running, cycling, playing tennis and golf, traveling (he tries to visit a different country every year), and getting back to London as often as possible! Visit his personal website at:  Dr. Dhand's Tweets of Wisdom One of the biggest acts of resistance to the Establishment you can make, to stop their plan to make you into a dollar sign, is staggeringly simple: Be absolutely DETERMINED to say no to ultra-processed foods and sugars If your Doctor talks more to you about “avoiding salt” and “avoiding fats” than about avoiding ultraprocessed foods and sugars… I'm sorry to say they probably know less about PROPER NUTRITION than my cat

In 2021, Dr. Sandra Musial gave up a private practice and teaching career to go ALL-IN with what she loves most - helping people transition to a whole food, plant-based lifestyle.She and other plant-based physicians started Plant Docs Providence to provide classes, education, and consultations to the public and medical professionals about how whole food, plant-based nutrition can prevent, improve, and reverse chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and certain cancers.Today, she and Rip discuss:Her Ukrainian roots and why she wanted to pursue medicineWhy she become a pediatrician to work with childrenWhat or who inspired Sandy to pursue plant-based nutritionThe rewards and challenges of working with children and their fammiliesThe dedication and outcomes of starting an obesity clinic and a food garden at Hasbro Children's HospitalWhen she knew it was time to go all-in on plant-based nutrition educationHow Plant Docs found a home at Plant City in Providence, Rhode IslandUpcoming programs at Plant CityThis career transition hasn't come without risk, but when you pursue what you believe, the risk also comes with high-reward when you KNOW you're making a difference in the lives of motivated people. Sandra Musial, MD is a physician specializing in food as medicine who is dedicated to preserving health and reversing lifestyle-related chronic disease through whole, plant-based nutrition. Sandy earned a BS degree in Nutritional Sciences from the University of New Hampshire, and an MD degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She has worked in a private pediatric practice and at Hasbro Children's Hospital teaching the pediatric residents and medical students from the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is a Culinary Coach from Harvard's CHEF Coaching program, has a certificate in Plant Based Nutrition from eCornell, and a Health Coaching certificate from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition®. Sandy is board certified in Pediatrics and Obesity Medicine and started an obesity clinic and the first vegetable garden at Hasbro. Though she has witnessed the healing power of conventional medicine, she has also seen its limitations, especially with regard to disease prevention through healthy nutrition. Sandy started the nonprofit Plant Docs as an avenue for people to learn about the power of plant-based nutrition to improve health.https://plantstrongfoods.com/ https://plantstrongfoods.com/pages/2023-sedona-retreat https://plantstrongfoods.com/pages/plant-stock-landing-page-2023 https://www.facebook.com/GoPlantstrong https://www.instagram.com/goplantstrong/https://home.mealplanner.plantstrong.com/ https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/10845 Episode Webpage www.plantstrongpodcast.com/blog/sandra-musial-md Plant City WebsitePlant Docs PVD | Best Nutritionists in Rhode Island - Learn more about their upcoming "Jumpstart Your Health" programs

Dr. Dean, an alum of Smith College and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, trained in surgery and psychiatry at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. After practicing for a decade, she worked for the US Army, where she managed regenerative medicine research funding and guided strategy for a $70M investment in the emerging field of hand and face transplants. In that position, and as a senior executive at a large nonprofit in Washington, D.C., she worked closely with both the civilian and military medical communities and many government agencies--BARDA, NIH, WHOSTP, NASA, DARPA--to develop novel strategies to restore form, function, and appearance to ill and injured service members.Her focus now is finding innovative ways to improve medicine for patients and physicians through my nonprofit and helping new talent and ventures realize their big ideas. Farming, fencing, photography, and riding big, opinionated horses keep her focused outside of work.Links : Physicians aren't ‘burning out.' They're suffering from moral injury If I betray these words, the book. Support the show

Last week, I had a blast hosting another free webinar for Beyond BookSmart that was all about ADHD. Amy McDuffie, an Executive Function coach and ADHD expert, joined me to explore how the ADHD brain works and what the roles of medication, therapy and executive function coaching are within the larger umbrella of ADHD treatment. We also took some time to cover some of our coaches' favorite tools and strategies that can support the areas of executive functioning that people with ADHD often struggle with, and featured psychiatrist, Dr. Theresa, to fill in some of our expertise gaps around ADHD medication. So, today, I'm bringing you the audio from the webinar AND a bonus Q&A section that Amy & I did after the webinar (there were just too many great questions we didn't get to!) If you joined us live and just want to hear the bonus content, you can skip ahead to around 47 minutes to listen to just that. And if you didn't get a chance to watch the webinar at all, be sure to look for the link in the show notes below!For those who have been blessed with careful ears, you'll hear me share in this episode that I was recently diagnosed with ADHD myself. Because of my recent diagnosis, this episode is particularly close to my heart. I hope you enjoy listening half as much as I enjoyed being a part of these important conversations and if you do, be sure to give us a 5-star review on the platform you're listening on! And last but certainly not least, thank you for being a part of the Focus Forward community. Here are the show notes for this week: Watch our webinar, How to Thrive with ADHD After a Diagnosishttps://thinkingoutsidetheclassroom.wistia.com/medias/u3pueh40rsSlides from our webinar, How to Thrive with ADHD After a Diagnosishttps://www.beyondbooksmart.com/hubfs/How%20to%20Thrive%20with%20ADHD%20After%20a%20Diagnosis%202023.pdfWatch our webinar about Motivation:https://thinkingoutsidetheclassroom.wistia.com/medias/o3it96iuotBeyond BookSmart ADHD Success Kithttps://www.beyondbooksmart.com/adhd-success-kit-2022Focus Forward Ep 13: How to Unlock the Superpowers of ADHDhttps://www.beyondbooksmart.com/podcast?wchannelid=y1lzulxlcs&wmediaid=by637tasziFocus Forward Ep 18: Flipping the ADHD Narrative: How "The Disruptors" is Changing the Way We Talk About ADHD (ft. Nancy Armstrong)https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/podcast?wchannelid=y1lzulxlcs&wmediaid=wwh3rsdpbw2-Minute Neuroscience: ADHDhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8JnDhp83gATranscriptHannah Choi 00:04Hi everyone, and welcome to Focus Forward, an executive function podcast where we explore the challenges and celebrate the wins, you'll experience as you change your life by working on improving your executive function skills. I'm your host, Hannah Choi. Hannah Choi 00:18Oh, you guys, thank you so much for taking the time to go to Apple podcasts and rate Focus Forward. For me, it really means a lot to see that little number next, all those stars go up. I really appreciate it. If you want to help us out, and you haven't already rated it, you can scroll to the bottom of the Focus Forward section of your Apple podcasts app and give us a rating and hopefully it's five stars. If it's not, email me, tell me why. Thanks, guys. I really appreciate you all so much.Hannah Choi 00:47 I had a blast hosting another beyond booksmart free webinar last week, this time, all about ADHD. Amy McDuffie joined me again as one of our ADHD experts. And we covered what ADHD is and what it is not how the ADHD brain and medication work, the roles therapy and executive function coaching play for people with ADHD, and the benefits of pairing those interventions for maximum success. We also took some time to cover some of our coaches favorite tools and strategies that can support the areas of executive functioning that people with ADHD often struggle with. And this webinar was an updated version of the ADHD fundamentals webinar that we held in June of 2022. So today, I'm bringing you the audio from this year's ADHD webinar. If you listen to Focus Forward regularly, you may notice that much of the content is similar to the ADHD focused episode we did in October of 2022. In fact, I even used some of the audio from last year's webinar in that episode, I really hope you listen anyway. And don't report me for plagiarizing myself, although you'd have to report me to me, and I'm cool with it. So it's all just such good stuff. And I want to share it with as many people as possible in as many formats as we can. So some people like to watch video to learn, and others like to listen and still others prefer to read. And as a coach, I really recognize the value of honoring these differences in people. And so this is me making that happen. If you'd like some visuals while you listen, the slides from the webinar are linked in the show notes. Also, today, you'll hear me share that I was recently diagnosed with ADHD myself. And so this webinar and that ADHD episode are particularly close to my heart. In fact, doing all the research for the ADHD episode last year confirmed what I had been wondering for quite a while. Hannah Choi 03:02At the end of our webinar presentation last week, Amy and I answered some of the Q&A topics that our attendees asked both with their registrations and during the live webinar. And people asked such good questions. So good. And if you listened to the Focus Forward episode of the audio from our Laziness vs. Executive Dysfunction webinar, all about unlocking motivation, you may remember that Amy, Vin and I sat down the next day to answer more Q&A topics. Because there were some great questions we couldn't get to before this latest webinar ended, Amy and I decided to meet up again, just like last time, so stay tuned at the end of the webinar audio for the bonus content. If you joined us live and you just want to hear the bonus content, you can skip ahead to about 46 minutes to listen to just that. And if you missed the webinar, and you want to watch it, the link to it and our other webinar presentations is in the show notes. Okay, now on to the show. Hannah Choi 04:07All right. So hello, and welcome to our webinar "How to Thrive with ADHD After Diagnosis". We are so thrilled to welcome people joining us from across the US and around the world as we saw, and we have closed captions available. So if you'd like to use those, be sure to turn them on. My name is Hannah Choi, and I'll be your moderator for tonight's event. I use she her pronouns and I'm the host of our podcast, all about executive functioning called Focus Forward. So if you listen there, you might know you get to see a face to the name or Yeah, face to my voice. I have been an executive function coach at beyond booksmart since 2017, and I have coached dozens of students from elementary age all the way up to college and I also work with adults and I'm a mom of two kids who are 11 and 14 and I live in Connecticut. I am also joined by Amy McDuffie who you may recognize from our laziness versus executive dysfunction webinar around motivation. Amy, would you please introduce yourself and share your background and your roles with Beyond BookSmart?Amy McDuffie 05:14Yes, thank you, Hannah. Hi, everyone, I have been a coach and executive function consultant with beyond booksmart. For over two years. I use she her pronouns, and my background is in special education, specifically in behavior and learning disabilities, with students from elementary through high school. And I'm also a former behavior specialist. These opportunities allowed me to really experience both the gifts and challenges of students diagnosed with ADHD. Much of my work in the school setting focused on providing interventions for students, and coaching teachers on how to best provide support. I'm also the parent of two pretty awesome teens, ages 14 and 17. And I'm so glad you all are here. And I'm really excited to be with you.Hannah Choi 05:59Thank you, Amy. And for those of you who are joining us who may not be familiar with Beyond BookSmart, we have been providing one on one executive function coaching with students and adults since 2006. Even before that term executive function became widely known. And you may already know this term since ADHD and executive function skill challenges are so closely bound. But if it's new to you, you're not alone, I promise. Executive function skills are mental skills that we use to navigate our lives and get through our days. They include attention, memory, time management, planning, prioritizing, and emotional regulation. And many of our clients have an ADHD diagnosis, which gives us extensive experience in supporting individuals with ADHD or similar challenges. And today's webinar is an updated version of the ADHD fundamentals webinar that we ran last summer, which was hosted by Jackie Hebert. And that webinar was one of our highest attended webinars. So we know that this topic is really important to people. And I am personally thrilled to be hosting this time, because the topic is really close to my heart, I was recently diagnosed with ADHD. And I've been doing a lot of the same navigation of new waters that many of you likely are. And so I'm really happy to be here with you today. So you may be joining us today because you or your child was recently diagnosed with ADHD, but maybe you just suspect a diagnosis. And if this is the case, we really encourage you to listen to the webinar, and then reach out to your pediatrician or your primary care provider for guidance on what to do next.Amy McDuffie 07:37Thanks, Hannah. It can be really overwhelming when you learn or suspect that you or a loved one has ADHD. There's just so much information out there. And it can be hard to sort through it all. But we find it can also be a huge relief to get a diagnosis because it gives you context for your or your child's struggles, and also a defined place to look for help and support, which you are doing right now. We're here tonight to provide that for you. So here's what's here's what to expect in our webinar. First, we'll briefly define ADHD and explore some common assumptions about it. Then we'll move to learning about medication options. Then we'll touch upon behavioral approaches to treating ADHD, and share some of our coaches favorite tools and strategies that can make life a little easier. We'll share some resources and answer some of your questions before we finish up. So please use the Q&A function at the bottom of your screen throughout the webinar.Hannah Choi 08:38Yes, thanks. And because we're not medical doctors - Sorry mom and dad! We will be sharing a recording of some of the webinar from last summer. We had Dr. Theresa Cerulli join us to discuss the option of medication to treat ADHD. Dr. Cerulli is a graduate of Tufts University, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Harvard Longwood residency program in adult psychiatry, and Harvard fellowships in Medical Psychiatry and neuro psychiatry, and she is a board certified physician in psychiatry and is on the faculty at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and for the neuroscience Education Institute, so we'll hear from her later.Amy McDuffie 09:21All right, so you might be wondering just how common is ADHD? You're in very good company. Research from the National Institute of Mental Health, the NIMH reveals 11% of children and 4.4% of adults meet the criteria for ADHD, with males diagnosed at a higher rate than females. Now those statistics are from 2011. So we hope that NIMH updates their data soon. But with that degree of prevalence, you can see why it's essential to educate caregivers, children and adults with ADHD and help them identify supports to manage their symptoms.Hannah Choi 09:59Yes, and thanks to the efforts of high profile and successful people with ADHD, there's less stigma associated with a diagnosis. In fact, you'll meet many people who consider their ADHD a superpower of sorts. And it provides great energy and creativity when channeled effectively. There are so many great examples of people with this superpower from Simone Biles that you can see on the screen now, and astronaut Scott Kelly and so many others, and ADHD does not have to be a hindrance to success. All right, but all of that inspirational wisdom still leaves us with an important question. Hannah Choi 10:35What is ADHD? And what is it not? All right, so ADHD is a brain based condition that impacts daily life. And it often can affect motivation. And it often runs in families. And it has three subtypes, there's hyperactive impulsive, and then there's inattentive, which you may know as add the ADD is what it was formerly called. And now it is called ADHD inattentive type. And then there is the third type, which is the combined type that has characteristics from both. And ADHD directly impacts executive functioning. And ADHD is not a result of poor parenting. It is not a choice. And it is not something that children typically outgrow. And it is not a learning disability. And it's also doesn't have to be an immovable barrier to success and happiness. And I want to touch upon just a few of these points. Not everyone outgrows it. But with intervention, you can manage symptoms, and sometimes the symptoms just change over your life, because the demands on us change. So the symptoms can look different as we age. And ADHD is not considered a learning disability because it's a medical condition that, as we learned, impacts your it will what you'll learn as we will learn it impacts neurotransmitters in the brain. And research indicates that 30 to 50% of children with ADHD also have a specific learning disability, and that the two conditions can interact, which can make learning extremely challenging.12:10Yes, let's talk more about that for a minute. It's not a learning disability, but a medical condition. And understanding these dynamics can really help us empathize with individuals with ADHD. So if you attended our Laziness vs. Executive Dysfunction webinar, this may sound familiar. So ADHD is characterized by lower levels of the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine, affecting how the ADHD brain perceives both reward and pleasure. And this leads to a lack of enthusiasm per task, and a tendency to prioritize short term rewards over long term rewards. Another significant difference in the ADHD brain involves the default mode network, which activates during daydreaming or when we're not focused on a task. In ADHD, this network is more often activated constantly diverting attention toward unrelated thoughts. So that explains why staying focused on tedious or repetitive tasks can be such a chore with ADHD. It really isn't a matter of well, it's a matter of neurology. And that's why brain based interventions can be really effective for individuals with ADHD.Hannah Choi 13:26Yes, so true. Thank you, Amy. Alright, so now that we know what happens inside the ADHD brain, let's take a look at how ADHD can show up in behavior. Okay, so here is the top of an iceberg. And this is the part that everyone sees when a person has executive function challenges due to ADHD. The people around them see the top they see the behaviors that are problematic. They're forgetful, they seem lazy and scattered. They're sloppy or moody, they behave impulsively, and sometimes can even be rude to others. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Now remember that icebergs are actually mostly hidden under the water. And it's the same with executive function challenges. When we look deeper, we can see the specific skill deficits that people with ADHD can often have and that are causing the challenging behaviors that impact those around us. And so a person may have a poor sense of time or difficulty planning ahead, when that can make them seem scattered, and they may have trouble regulating emotion and seem irritable or moody. When they have no strategies to self monitor, a person can look impulsive, and students or adults who are too overwhelmed to get started can look lazy. And when they have no systems to track to sorry, excuse me to track their belongings or to maintain their focus, they can be forgetful. And when a person has trouble thinking flexibly, it can affect their problem solving and perspective taking and that can often come off as rude or demanding behavior. Beer. And as I mentioned in the beginning, ADHD can impact one or more of these skill areas. So you can see how it can directly impact our ability to manage everyday demands.Amy McDuffie 15:13Thank you, Hannah. So we'll shift now to the role of medication for ADHD. Many of you wrote in with questions about that, and we recognize that medication is a personal choice. And for those who are considering it, we wanted to provide some support there. So let's hear from Dr. Cerulli to learn how that works.Theresa Cerulli, MD 15:33So medications, I will say, it should be something to at least discuss with your providers medication isn't for everyone, but should at least be considered for everyone is how I would have I would think about it. And mostly because of the data. Looking at this was these were NIMH funded studies, not pharmaceutical funded studies years ago, looking at the role of behavioral interventions versus motivate medication intervention, interventions, versus combined in treating ADHD, and the sitter. So the surprise was that medication interventions, compared with behavioral interventions alone, the medication invent interventions were more significantly impactful. And then we all made the assumption that the combined medication and behavioral treatment would be even more impactful and which was true, but not to the extent that they had anticipated. So it does look like a main a main part of the treatment intervention should be medication should at least be considered this is neural neuro biologically based. And the sometimes it's hard to make headway in your behavioral strategies, meaning I call that "from the outside in" using strategies you learn in your environment, with some coaching, hopefully, and therapy, from the outside in, those strategies become hard to learn, and or utilize if you're also not not working from the inside out and helping with the neurobiological aspects in terms of what's happening in the brain. So initially, at least considering the combination of therapies, internal and external, so to speak, are, are considered them should should at least be considered. That's how we think about it. And here's our ADHD brain here on on the slide with the power switch in the frontal lobe. Think of the brain as a large electrical circuit, it really is that we're sending electrical signals when one part of the brain is talking to another part of the brain. So in the ADHD brain, all the circuitry is there, there's nothing that's we're not missing something. There's not, you know, holes in the section of the brain that's involved in attention concentration. But it just, it turns out that there's a higher level of stimulation is needed to literally turn the circuit on. And the reason that this switch here is in the frontal lobe this on switch is because that's the area that's mostly involved in ADHD, from what we can tell that area is under active or hypo active. If you look at functional scans, have somebody do a concentration task that has ADHD, and you scan them in a functional scanner, looking at what happens. And it turns out that that area of the brain that's used with concentration and attention is under active, it's too quiet. It takes something stimulating to flip the switch, which is where the medications come in. I get this question all the time. Why in the world would you talk about stimulant medications? For somebody who's already hyperactive and impulsive? It's kind of counterintuitive. And the reason is because you're not trying to stimulate the whole person. You want to stimulate that frontal part of the brain that Its job is to help us focus, concentrate, built around, filter out background noises, organize and plan. You're trying to turn it on to do its job most efficiently and effectively. So choosing the right medication is the question we get all the time. It should be in partnership certainly with somebody who really knows ADHD well, and the primary care physicians are especially if you're working with kids, the pediatricians are quite familiar but all with adults with ADHD your internist may or may not be they because the stimulant medications, which are many of the options we have available, are controlled substances. A lot of the internists and general practitioners for adults are their little hesitant to be involved in in prescribing so we usually refer you to a psychiatrist and neurologist, somebody who does this on a more routine basis. For ADHD, there are stimulants. There are also non stimulants. The non stimulants have some similar effects in the brain. Not quite as strong, I would say Say is the stimulants and we'll go through them quickly through the pros and cons. Stimulants have been around for years and years the gosh, Ritalin 1950s There was some amphetamines available even before that in the 1930s not yet used for ADHD but at least existed so stimulants have been around for more years than I have been concert they've been well studied. They're relatively affordable because there's many options and so usually there's a lot of generic brands that are available which insurance is more willing to pay for so that has that advantage. Cons is that they are controlled substances. They do have the potential for addiction. If we have clients that working with when there's any concern around that we are really careful usually move that would be someone I'd move to a non stimulant is first line. Some examples of stimulants you may have heard of certainly, Ritalin, Concerta, and meditate those fall into the methylphenidate category of stimulants. There's a second stimulant category and that's amphetamines. Some of the names you may have heard of there are Adderall, Vyvanse and dexedrine. So stimulants, if that's the umbrella term, under stimulants, you have two subcategories methylphenidate and amphetamines. And then there's about 29 or so total stimulants if I wanted to make a list and but most of those 29 fall into either methylphenidate or amphetamines in some form, some are long acting, some are short acting. An example in the methylphenidate Ritalin itself and its original form that tablet lasted only about three and a half, four hours. And that was it, which is why it was so hard to get tend to go to the nurse's office at lunchtime to take their second dose of Ritalin than they needed a third dose after school and potentially another for homework. It was really kind of rough that up down on off feeling. Concerta is a long acting rhythm and it's still Ritalin. It's just a 10 to 12 hour version that you can take once in the morning and have it last throughout the day. So there's many methylphenidates that are short acting, many that are long acting, some that are in between. Same thing with amphetamines, the non stimulants, they aren't controlled substances, there is no potential for addiction. That is one of the beauties of the non stimulants. They haven't been out as long so we don't have as many available. In fact, there are only for adults, we only have two non stimulants FDA approved for treating ADHD. In children, we had three new we now have four because Quelbree came became available last year as another non stimulant available for actually kids and adults. So we don't have the long list of that we do with stimulants where there's I said 29 I think it's actually even a little more than that now. Preparations, non stimulants we're more limited choice, but they do have their advantages that it's not that they don't have side effects, stimulants and non stimulants both can have side effects. The side effects with the non stimulants are just a bit different. I already said that not addictive, there's no withdrawal risk. They're not quite as strong. If you looked at the robustness of response, you're going to get more effect over and above not on a stimulant over and above not taking a stimulant compared with what we call the robustness of of effect of a non stimulant. But it really should be tailored to the individual and discussed with your individual provider. Hopefully someone that really is specialized in ADHD.Amy McDuffie 23:41All right, that was great information. So medication provides a place to start for many with ADHD. But as some educational professionals say, "Pills don't teach skills". I know it might sound silly, but it's worth noting for the reminder it provides medication as we just learned can set the stage to make learning and applying new skills easier by turning on the brain's ability to focus, which allows us allows us to take better advantage of other beneficial supports. Also, because some people choose not to take ADHD medication, it's important to explore these other supports. So the other half of the equation is how you go about learning new habits and behaviors. Let's find out more about two options therapy and coaching. Both of which can teach you different ways of thinking about your ADHD, and tools and strategies to support the areas that you or your child find challenging. So therapy and executive function coaching work together to address the negative behaviors and habits that have been learned over time, but in different ways. Therapists help transform negative patterns of thinking influenced by living with ADHD and constructively rebuilt the way people feel about themselves. Their therapy can be a really helpful piece of overall treatment, particularly if there's self esteem issues, or coexisting mental health conditions like depression or anxiety that are part of the big picture. The longer that ADHD is untreated, it's more likely that there are deep seated beliefs about self worth, and potential that can be holding a person back. It's significant to note that a child with ADHD could receive 20,000 corrective or negative comments by the time they are age 10. Now that's fertile ground for feelings of shame to take root. We're not therapists, so we can't elaborate on the specific benefits and approaches to therapy. But we really encourage you to find a therapist who has experience supporting people with ADHD.Hannah Choi 25:56Yes, I know that my therapist has been invaluable to me as I figured out how to manage my ADHD and all the emotions that come with that diagnosis. So managing those emotions, and those negative narratives that come along with it are just one part of the puzzle. Because ADHD impacts executive functioning so directly, working specifically on developing good habits to level the playing field is really, really helpful. And that's where executive function coaching can help. So what is executive function coaching, it supports clients to explore their strengths and their challenges, and then refine their tools to manage their daily life challenges. And all of this helps foster healthy habits. And having a coach is beneficial for everyone, actually, regardless of your ADHD diagnosis, because you don't have to have ADHD, to have stroke struggles with executive function. And life can just be tough enough for everybody. So learning some new strategies is always helpful. And as we said before, Amy and I are both coaches, and we have been for some time now. And I just love how we get to teach adults and students, all those executive function skills like organizing, planning, prioritizing, managing time, and maintaining focus, learning to assess yourself and work more efficiently. But it's really so much more than just building on those specific skills and habits. Right, Amy?Amy McDuffie 27:26Absolutely. Yes, I definitely agree with you there, Hannah. I also really just value the strong trust and rapport that I get to build with clients. And I love those moments when I get to see a shift in confidence and autonomy. You know, really our goal is our goal as coaches is for clients to develop the skills they need in order to become successful and independent.Hannah Choi 27:51Yes, there's just nothing like it when we see our clients finding that. And also, everybody comes from a different place and has different needs and different challenges. And so what what I really like about that one on one aspect of coaching is that it can really help clients focus on their specific goals and their needs. So Amy, what do you see in your clients with ADHD when they first start coaching?Amy McDuffie 28:19Yeah, that's a really, really important question, because clients often come to us when they're feeling pretty frustrated, which is completely understandable. And oftentimes, individuals with ADHD experience much more frustration and failure than they do success, which ends up having a negative impact on their self perception, and also increases stress. So this can become a real barrier leading to the self-reinforcing negative cycle, and also results in less efficient processing. Because our brains just don't function well under stress. I know I've seen clients come into coaching with the assumption that they just can't improve their grades or stay on top of their work. Because this combination of past failure and unhelpful habits have really diminished their confidence in it for taking any steps towards making a change. And that's why it's really important to help clients with ADHD recognize their strengths. And as coaches, we can build upon those strengths and draw parallels between the skills needed to generalize that success to other areas. We also initially work on finding small wins and help clients recognize the benefits from these changes, which then leads to greater self confidence. And this increase in self-confidence and feelings of success then became motivating to build upon this habits and ends up creating a positive cycle of success that can really snowball into some major changes.Hannah Choi 29:51Yes, it's so it's just so great to see that happening. So let's talk about some of the specific tools and strategies that we coaches use to teach people with have ADHD, or just executive function challenges to make the life a little easier. So a common common common executive function skill challenge area for people with ADHD. And actually, I would say for most everybody is planning, prioritizing and time management. And so let's start with that time management. One helpful strategy is using timers and then blocking out your time, we really liked the Pomodoro Technique, which you may have heard of before, and it involves setting a timer for a focused work period, then that's usually about 25 minutes, the brain doesn't really like to work longer, in general. So 25 minutes is often a good amount of time. And then after the timer goes off, you take a five minute break, make sure you set a time and mercy or five minute break doesn't turn into an hour, and then restart that cycle. And then if you're finding it difficult to get back to work, after the break, you can try stretching or getting up and walking around having a snack or a drink, or just maybe switching to a different activity temporarily. And when prioritizing what you're going to work on in those blocks of time, some people like to decide ahead of time, what they're going to work on, based on the difficulty of the task or its urgency, and then others like to start with what they're feeling most motivated to work on. And it really just depends on what works best for you. And as all tools. And what we really say to all of our clients all the time is we really, really want you to try things out, and then see what works best for you. And as a person with ADHD, the way that you do things might look different from the way everyone else does. And I'm here to tell you that that is okay. And a tool that we like to use for planning is called peak performance. And what peak performance does it helps you to learn to pay attention to when you're most productive. And so this can give you some insights on how to schedule your days. So if you tend to get tired in the afternoons, I think that's pretty standard for most people, scheduling a focus to work session in the afternoon is not maybe a realistic expectation. And if you have a hard time winding down after school, jumping right into homework when you first get home might be stressful and unproductive.Amy McDuffie 32:17Yes, thank you so much, Hannah. I totally agree it's so important to recognize those peak performance times during the day. And I think it's also really helpful to determine why the task is important to you, you know, to remind yourself of the potential benefits, which may not always seem immediate, but could have some greater benefit down the road. And this can really help boost motivation for taking the steps to get started. Some other strategies that can help with focus include things like taking notes, using checklists, asking questions, and just writing information down in your own words. It's really about creating opportunities for engagement and active participation whenever possible. And some people find it's also helpful to drink water or to gum, also to use alternate seating or even stand and to create opportunities for movement. And this is definitely something to consider in the school environment where students do a lot of sitting.Hannah Choi 33:21I also wanted to touch on some strategies that can help remember help with remembering to take your medication. And this could be ADHD medication or any other prescriptions you might have. Memory can be a big challenge area for people with ADHD. I know it is my kryptonite. We suggest setting up automatic refills for prescriptions that allow this and adding a reminder in your calendar for the following month when you receive this month supply. And you can create a recurring alarm as a reminder to take your meds or and then also like keep them in something like near something that you use daily, maybe by your planner or bedside table or the kitchen counter. And ordering a three month supply when possible. You can't do this without medications can reduce how often you need to reorder, which is really helpful. And if the current Adderall shortage affects you, being proactive is crucial. Your pharmacist may need to collaborate with other pharmacies to source refills, and finding a cooperative pharmacy will make things much easier. Let's see. All right. I'm gonna go with this one. Let's see. How do you know when a teen is being lazy versus when it's ADHD? This sounds very familiar to me. Amy. Does it sound like that to you?Amy McDuffie 34:48It's that's a that's a tough question to be honest. Yeah, I'm happy to start out on that one. Yeah. I you know, coming from you know, a behavioral behavioral person Active, excuse me, I really like to find out, you know, where the problem issue is, and also, you know, help determine why that's happening. So I feel like, that's a really important step here. Like, you know, how, how is this child being impacted? And, you know, why is that occurring? Because I do think that, you know, behavior serves a function. And I think we need to determine that before we can identify, you know, if it's ADHD related, which it very well could be, or if it's more of a behavioral issue. So, I don't know, Hannah, what are your thoughts on that?Hannah Choi 35:39Yeah, well, it reminds me of the last webinar that we, that we both hosted back in May, where it was actually the topic of the webinar. And, and, and we, we do like what like you just said, it's, it's, I mean, I would say it's not laziness. It can feel that way. As the parent, I can very much feel that way. It can also feel that way, as a person with ADHD, sometimes I find myself, I like catch myself thinking, I'm being really lazy. And then I realized, like, wait a second, I'm just not, I'm not figuring out why. And I'm not figuring out a tool to help me get past that what feels like a laziness barrier. I do know that a lot of screen time can deplete what little dopamine people with ADHD already have. So extended amounts of screen time can can make it feel like everything else is really boring, which can impact your motivation. So you know, if there's, you might want to have a discussion with yourself, if you're the person who's experiencing that, or with your partner or with your child, if, if there might be some dopamine depletion going on from a lot of screentime, which is totally normal. Everybody, does it. I'm not at all saying is there's anything wrong with it, but it can be, there can be a connection of it there. So yeah, all right. Um, let's see. Oh, here we go. Can you give an example of how ADHD can be a superpower? I would like to take that one.Amy McDuffie 37:20Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah.Hannah Choi 37:24So that Default Mode Network section that you were talking you and Dr. Cerulli were talking about earlier is, is it's both a challenge and also a superpower. So even while I'm talking right now, I have like a lot of ideas going on in my head. And what I'm doing is like making all these connections between topics. And I feel like I'm really good at synthesizing information. Because I have this deep, I even I'm focusing on talking right now to all of you, I have this default mode network that is like susceptible, making all these connections out here. And I feel like it gives me some really creative ideas. And I also feel like it really helps me as a podcast host. Because I feel like it helps me come up with some really cool questions and make connections that a more linear thinker might not make. It does require extra effort to stay focused and to kind of ignore that default mode network when I when I really need to focus. So it's a it's a challenge, and it's also a superpower. And also, there's just a lot of energy behind the things that people with ADHD are really interested in. So I think that that is, you know, some of the most successful CEOs in the world have ADHD. What about you, Amy, what do you see in your clients are the students that you used to work with?Amy McDuffie 38:46I really, I really value the creativity that I feel like many individuals with ADHD have. And you mentioned, Hannah, you know, the energy and I think that's, that's such an important part that to frame it as a positive. And, you know, that kind of goes, you know, really into, like, the dialogue about ADHD that we really should reframe it as, you know, as a positive and look at, you know, you know, the gifts that ADHD can bring for individuals.Hannah Choi 39:19Yep, I agree. Okay, here is a great question. I'm so glad somebody asked this. How does mood play into executive functioning with my daughter who has to attempt inattentive ADHD getting into the frame of mind to do anything is a big challenge. Yeah, so just to get a little brain nerdy. So our executive function skills reside in our frontal lobe or prefrontal cortex which is right behind our foreheads. And we can only really access them when we are at rest and digest when our body when we're not stressed out. We're not upset we're not anxious. And so if you, if you already are struggling with executive functioning, which a person with ADHD does, and also one of those really big, important executive function skills in there that do that does really challenge people with ADHD is emotional regulation. So regulating your emotions so that you can stay up in the front part of your brain, the top part of your brain where your executive function skills are is a huge part of success. Right? Like, if you already have trouble accessing them, and your emotions are not being managed, then it makes it even harder to get started even harder to get over the anxiety that you might have or the frustration you might feel or the fear you might have for what you're going to work on.Amy McDuffie 40:45Yeah, absolutely. Hannah, I mean, it really that emotional regulation or self regulation piece, it really is the starting point, you know, of things to focus on and then to work on building strategies from there.Hannah Choi 41:00Yeah, yep. Somebody asked about screen time. We could literally talk about screen time all night.Amy McDuffie 41:07Yeah, yeah. And I feel like that's, that's such an important question. Because, you know, it's one that we all we all live. Yeah. So I'm, if that's okay, Hannah, I'm happy to share. Okay. So this is something that I've, you know, that I've actually been working on with a client, and, you know, having two teenagers myself, it's something that we address in our own home as well. And I feel like, you know, for me, the approach that I like to take is to really look at, you know, how we spend our time, so, you know, how your kids are spending their time. And, you know, really what they're missing, you know, are there things that they have enjoyed doing in their lives, their hobbies, other things that might be sacrificed, if they're spending tons of time on the screen. So I like to, you know, kind of approach things from that angle in terms of, you know, what else could you be doing with your time, and then, I love the approach in my own house of, you know, taking the, the adolescent need for independence and autonomy. And, you know, really talking with my kiddos about, you know, are you in control of your phone? Or are you allowing your phone to control you and, you know, taking that approach and teaching them about, you know, the intention of all of the the apps and, you know, wanting to, you know, maintain our attention and take our time away. So, those are just some approaches that I use, you know, in my own house and with with my client as well. How about you, Hannah?Hannah Choi 42:44Yeah, I really love that last point that you made, because learning to, to reflect on our own experience, and then take what we've learned, and then apply it to our life to make positive change is is such an important skill to learn as a teen because you're soon going to be an adult and not have your parents around to help you monitor all that. So learning that self awareness, and just self control is so great. So I love that. I love that you mentioned that. Yeah, I got to interview Dr. Clifford Sussman, who is a psychiatrist who specializes in screen addiction. And he had some really, really great tips for, like you said, working with your, with your child, your teen to, to, you know, work together to come up with a potential solution for you know, setting reasonable limits, while also giving them that autonomy and independence that they do crave. And they do need because they need to develop that skill for success in life outside of, you know, our safe and cozy homes. And then he also talked a lot about See, here's where my memory is... so anyway, just listen to the episode!Amy McDuffie 44:06That is a great episode, Hannah. That's one of my favorites.Hannah Choi 44:12We are live folks, we are live. Here's one. How can you tell if it is anxiety or ADHD? Oh, whoever wrote that? I feel Yeah, I feel you. What do you see in your clients? Amy?Amy McDuffie 44:28Oh, wow. I honestly he and I often see both of those in conjunction and, you know, the symptoms of anxiety and ADHD. There's definitely some overlap there. And you know, we talked about the you know, the cycle of failure and I what I have seen is when clients expect have that experience of past failure, it causes more anxiety and that anxiety you know, leads to avoidance with Whether it's for, you know, completing assignments or the thing they have to do, and it just, it does create that ongoing cycle. So it's, it's hard for me to separate the two, honestly, when I think about the work that I do with my clients, because I do see it often together. How about you?Hannah Choi 45:18Yep. Yep, I agree. I mean, I agree personally, that is, has been my experience. And I also see it in my clients as well. I know, for me, personally, I have a lot of anxiety around forgetting things, because memory is my most challenged area. So I am, I am often anxious that I am, you know, forgetting an important appointment or forgetting to do something that I told someone I would do. And so I have to use a lot of strategies to support myself there and I don't succeed every time. I have recently double booked myself. And so you know, it happens. But I encourage you to explore both. And to, like Amy said, it's hard to separate them, I do think it's pretty common to have both. And, and also, like, maybe we even internalized this as a child, you know, you you like all those corrective messages we heard, you know, we talked about earlier, it's, you know, when you hear that over your over the years and years, it's, it's hard not to come a little anxious about that. Hannah Choi 46:20Okay, so this is where we ended our Q&A section of the webinar. Now keep listening to hear the rest of the conversation that I recorded with Amy the next morning. And in keeping with my goal of authenticity, you can hear some sounds of daily life in the background of my recording. My mother in law, who I love dearly, did not realize I was recording. Good morning, Amy.Amy McDuffie 46:46Hey, good morning.Hannah Choi 46:48Thanks for coming back. It's not too early, but it is the morning, but I appreciate the quick turnover. Amy McDuffie 46:56Yeah, absolutely.Hannah Choi 46:58That was so fun last night. I'm so glad we got to do that again.Amy McDuffie 47:01Yeah, me too. I really, I really enjoyed that I could talk about, you know, ADHD is something I could talk about all day. So.Hannah Choi 47:10Okay, well, then I'm glad we're talking about it. So I was laughing so hard internally, because as you know, every time we were practicing, I kept almost I kept saying not almost saying I kept saying laziness versus execution webinar. Not laziness versus executive dysfunction webinars. SoAmy McDuffie 47:31yeah, that would be a different webinar, for sure. It'll be different. Yes, exactly. I mean, that would that would be a different source of motivation, for sure. SoHannah Choi 47:51All right, so yeah, so I was very proud of myself control and yours as well, because I know you were wondering if I was gonna say it?Amy McDuffie 47:59Well, and I was trying not to think about it too much, because then I didn't want to internalize it and say it myself. So I feel like we did. We did well, with that. We did. We did. We said the word.Hannah Choi 48:13 All right, let's dive into some of these questions that are just so good. I love. I just love how thoughtful everyone is. And so some of these questions were submitted during our live Q&A. And some of them were submitted when people registered for the webinar. So we've just kind of mixed them together. Okay, so here's the question when searching for a therapist, what kind of therapists should I look for?Amy McDuffie 48:39Yeah, so Hannah, I'm happy to jump in on that. One. I would recommend looking for a therapist who is experienced working with individuals with ADHD. And you know, also if you you know, feel comfortable and know someone who has an ADHD diagnosis, you know, maybe getting a recommendation from them as well. Then what do you think?Hannah Choi 49:01Yeah, for sure, you can also ask your psychiatrist or your whatever the doctor is that you're working with, for medication, if you take medication. I do know on Psychology Today, the different therapists will have profiles. And then and then on their profile, it'll say whether they work with people with ADHD, although I did reach out to one and she she told me that she doesn't work with ADHD. People with ADHD but it says so on her profile. So you might, you might and then they went to check back again. I noticed it was gone. So you might you might that might happen to you, but I encourage you to persevere. Yeah, yes. But yeah, absolutely. Someone who has experience and then you meet you might also meet with the person for the first time if you've never met with a therapist before. You may not know this that it can take a couple tries to find a therapist that you really gel with. But it's worth pursuing. It is frustrating because you have to tell your story, again to a new A person. But um, hopefully, hopefully you find the right one on the first try. Yeah. All right. Next, how do you approach a college age student who has been diagnosed with ADHD but will not accept help and wants to fix himself? And how do you help with the shame that they feel I actually entire my own personal experience real quick, I ended up when I got diagnosed, I realized, oh, there's actually nothing wrong with me, this is just how my brain is wired. So I actually felt a lot of relief, getting a diagnosis, so that I can understand the opposite experience. And it does, it can really feel like there's like something wrong with you, and that needs to be fixed. But, you know, as we talked about last night, it is it is just, you know, it's a, it's the way that your brain is, you know, it's neurotransmitters, it's not character flaws. And so I don't know if you know, approaching it from a real matter of fact, sort of factual viewpoint, that this is what's going on in your brain. And it's not necessarily like you as, as your essence, your soul, your person. What do you think?Amy McDuffie 51:16Yeah, I think that, that the education piece is so crucial. Because just having that having the understanding, knowing why that's happening, I think can really help with that piece. And in terms of, you know, addressing the shame piece, and dealing with denial, I think it's really important, you know, as, as parents, as professionals to really normalize our own struggles, and normalize the fact that everyone has challenges and struggles and things that we that we fail at. And, you know, just really, you know, trying to approach it from that perspective that, you know, this is this is what I'm dealing with, and that, you know, we all have those things. And I feel like that's a really important part in conjunction with the education piece.Hannah Choi 52:11Yeah, yep. Showing that empathy. And, and, and acknowledging their, their feelings and not denying them those feelings. And, yeah, yeah, it is hard, though. Yeah. What's what what I feel like is that, that, eventually, people who are feeling that way will hopefully feel, see the superpowers see the benefits of it, and are and are able to shift their perspective from something like wrong with them something that needs to be fixed to something like, oh, how can I leverage the, you know, the, the actual, like, really great things about this? And, you know, it does take a lot of work? Not, you know, it's definitely not easy, but I think that a shift in mindset can can help as well. Absolutely. Just wanted that therapy piece and executive function coaching thing coming.Amy McDuffie 53:05Right. Right. And I think also, you know, if it's possible, you know, to connect them with someone who has ADHD and has, you know, worked on some strategies and, you know, is able to share their perspective, I think that can be really helpful as well, because so many people are diagnosed with it, and, you know, are very successful. So I think that's a helpful piece, too.Hannah Choi 53:31Yep. Absolutely. And that we are seeing much less of a stigma around it, and people are more open to talking about it. And so hopefully, they are, you know, your your kid kiddos are able to connect with other people, I think, yeah, that's a really good point that you brought up, Amy. Thank you. All right. So next one. All right. Let's switch to an adult perspective. If you work in an office job, where you stare at computers all day, how can one unplug and not lose motivation to do other stuff? I feel like I can't separate myself from my electronics and I procrastinate on other things I need to do. That's a really I think this challenge for anybody right, regardless of your diagnosis. Yes. Especially in this day and age, this is you are absolutely not the first person to ask this question. I think many of our adult clients are saying yes, yes. Amy McDuffie 54:33Yeah. I agree with you there. Yes, absolutely. Because we do spend so much time, you know, staring at our screens, whether it's work or anything else, I think it's really helpful to you know, to actually schedule time away from the computer away from the screen, and, you know, whatever that looks like, whether you're actually in an office or working from home, but you know, scheduling that time and committing to sticking to it. I also think it's really helpful to enlist support, you know, whether from a family member or a friend, you know, to help you commit to that, whether it's, you're able to go for a walk, or whatever the thing is, where you're breaking away from it, you know, having support can be really motivating.Hannah Choi 55:25I have an adult client that I work with currently, and he is dealing with this exact same challenge at work. And he is lucky that he has an office so he is able to shut his door. So what he does is he schedules work time on his calendar, so he looks busy, so that people, you know, interrupt him less, and then he also shuts his office door. If you don't have an office door to shut, you can have, you could even put up a sign like I'm busy working, putting on headphones is a nice visual cue to other people that you are busy. And then the phone, the phone is a big one, they've done studies and they have found that we are I think 30% less effective. Just having our phone on our desk, even if it's flipped over and silenced, we are less productive. So I really encourage you to put your phone, like you know, leave your phone in your I don't know, on your friend's desk or your co workers desk or in your work bag or something. So it's really, really out of the way out of you know, the temptation zone. That can you really help if you feel like you can't put it away or you can't for some reason, maybe you need to be on call for a sick child or you have some other commitment where you really need to be connected to your phone. They do have apps that can help you with focus. So there's don't My favorite one is Focus Dog, which there's like a dog that makes doughnuts while you're focusing. We talked about that one before. There's also there's also Forest and you know, all those other focusing apps - the Flora flora. Yeah, those are both really like pre pretty ones. Right? So, if you want the tasty donuts get Focus Dog, Pretty one get Flora Forest or, or Flora. Those are some tools that you can use if you if you can't physically move your phone away from your Yeah, your workspace.Amy McDuffie 57:31Yeah, that's, that's great to know, to Hannah about the productivity. I need to I need to work on that.Hannah Choi 57:39Yeah, it's and I've actually asked my, a lot of my college clients, I challenged them to not have their phone with them when they're working. And they all begrudgingly admit that yes, they were more productive when their phone wasn't. So yes. But yeah, it is it is a powerful distractor having that there. SoAmy McDuffie 58:01yeah, definitely. Yeah.Hannah Choi 58:03All right. So let's see. Here's some more though is two more that will combine any tips for college freshmen with ADHD? What may be some good routines to practice over the summer? Great question. And then how do I help my teen who was diagnosed last month with ADHD? Learn some strategies to make things easier on them during the summer? While the pressure of school is off? Yeah, that's a great question. Yeah. Amy McDuffie 58:32Yes, are so great. And I, I love the thoughtfulness behind that. And, you know, taking advantage of summer time being, you know, a low stakes situation without the pressure school. And I really think it's a great time to work on things like organizational skills, whether it's your physical space to get that set up, you know, before school starts, or, you know, working on, you know, learning to use a planner or a Calendar, Google Calendar. This is something that I actually work on with my kids during the summer. You know, in terms of, you know, Google Calendar, and you know, helping them manage whether my daughter is dog sitting or babysitting, she uses like a physical wall calendar as well. So you know, whatever the organizational system is, that's going to be helpful just to get in the habit of using that. I feel like it's really important over the summer. What about you?Hannah Choi 59:29Yeah, yes, I'm working on that right now with a client where I'm encouraging them to. I joke and say, you have to change your relationship with your planner, you have to move beyond just holding hands. And so yeah, so I'm really encouraging them to write everything down in their calendar. And it's like you said, it's such a low stakes time. So even when they're going to hang out with friends, I encourage them to put it in their calendar. So they can just get in the habit of making the calendar event, you know, and then maybe even sharing it with their friends with their friends can also have it on their calendar, just to be a little bit of a role model and also have some built in some accountability. So, that's is such a great time to practice it.Amy McDuffie 1:00:20One of my clients, we actually started this summer, working on a schedule for laundry.Hannah Choi 1:00:27Because there's so many executive function skills. Yes, yes. And cooking, too.Amy McDuffie 1:00:33It's a good one, too. But yeah, so you know, even things like, you know, working on, you know, managing your chores, or, you know, setting up a plan to manage your laundry can be really hard to work on in the summertime. Yeah, so with one of my clients was laundry, like, we literally, you know, worked on making a schedule and a plan for the week of, you know, when to tackle laundry, and, you know, even down to, you know, pulling in some habit stacking that in the morning, right after the shower, we're going to start laundry and, and go from there. And it was really effective. And I think that's such a helpful thing to focus on in the summertime,Hannah Choi 1:01:16Especially for kids who are heading off to college. And we've, you know, we've talked about that, before, it's come up on a couple conversations on the podcast anyway, it's such a huge, huge thing. And there's so many executive function skills out there. Yeah. And also cooking to cooking is a really great way to practice executive function skills of planning and prioritizing and organization, and time management. And it, there's so many involved in there. And then also, they're learning the valuable skill of how to cook right is so important as you prepare to leave to leave the nest. Yeah, though. Yeah, absolutely. You're right. It is, it's such like a great low stakes environment to practice those things. And they, and they really, and you don't need to practice them in an academic way. You know, like the examples that we just gave have nothing to do with academics. But, and that's what's so cool about executive function coaching is how transferable all of the skills that our clients learn, like, like our student clients, learn, you know, strategies to support their academics, but all of those strategies are transferable to, you know, their daily life activities. It's pretty cool.Amy McDuffie 1:02:36Yeah, absolutely. And it's, it's so valuable, too, because, you know, just thinking about things like laundry and cooking, I mean, those are skills, you you have to have your entire life unless, you know, you're in a situation where someone does that for you have to learn to manage those things. And I think back and I wish that someone had like, either really kind of worked on those things with me in a more direct way. I mean, I figured them out, as we do. Yeah, right. Right. You know, it really does just make me aware of the value of, you know, really directly teaching the skills and the systems that you can apply across the board.Hannah Choi 1:03:19And what is so great about that is that you can directly teach your kids those, those executive function skills without them even realizing that they're learning. So, you know, if you sat down and very, very formally said, now, we should work on time management, and, you know, like prioritizing, they're gonna roll their eyes and say, No, thank you. But, you know, just don't mention them and they're gonna learn them just accidentally.Amy McDuffie 1:03:48Exactly, exactly. There's so many ways to naturally weave that in. Yes, yeah. If we, if we formally approach it with our own kids, I feel like at that point, like, they're, they're no longer listening. Yeah.Hannah Choi 1:04:01That's right. It's like when they're little and you would like, I don't know, you'd like hide the spinach and something tasty. Like, if you tell them there's spinach in here, they're gonna like, I'm not gonna eat that. decided in there. They don't know. Exactly, exactly. Sorry, kids. Parenting is all about tricking you.Amy McDuffie 1:04:23It's actually it's not manipulation. It's education. Hannah Choi 1:04:28That's right, disguised as a brownie or laundry. Amy McDuffie 1:04:32You'll think this later.Hannah Choi 1:04:34And you'll do the same to yours if you have them. Thanks again for joining me, Amy, such a pleasure.Amy McDuffie 1:04:41Absolutely. Hannah. This was great. Thank you so much.Hannah Choi 1:04:45And that is our show for today. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to listen, I hope you learned something new about ADHD or maybe you just found a new view of it. It truly can be a superpower with the right interventions. tools and strategies. As I mentioned before, if you want to watch the entire webinar, you can find the link to it in the show notes. I also included some links to the slides that we shared during the webinar. I hope you join me at our next webinar. You can find more about our upcoming events by signing up for beyond book smarts monthly newsletter, the monthly think, or by checking the Events page in the resources section of our website. If you know anyone who might want to learn more about ADHD, please share this episode with them. You can reach out to me at podcast at beyond booksmart.com and also you can subscribe to Focus Forward on Apple and Google podcasts, Spotify or wherever else you get your podcasts. And as always, if you listen on Apple podcasts or Spotify, you can give us a boost by giving us a five star rating. We would love it. Sign up for our newsletter at beyond booksmart.com/podcast will let you know when new episodes drop and we'll share information related to the topic. Thanks for listening

On episode 429 of The Nurse Keith Show nursing and healthcare career podcast, Keith interviews Shira Page, RN, NP, CLC, the Medical Community Manager for Bobbie, an infant formula startup. In the course of their interview, Keith and Shira discuss how such a passionate and talented nurse practitioner was able to find happiness and career fulfillment in the non-clinical space, specifically the world of medical start-ups. If you've ever had thoughts that perhaps you'd be more content in a non-clinical role where your nursing knowledge and expertise would still be the key to your success, this is a worthy conversation to hear. Shira Page, RN, NP, CLC, is Bobbie's Medical Community Manager. Her career has centered around improving the clinical care of people in their most challenging moments. She studied nutrition and dietetics, followed by a Masters in Nursing at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Her clinical expertise is in endocrinology, women's health, and weight medicine. She worked as a nurse practitioner at Mount Auburn Hospital, focusing on endocrine concerns during pregnancy and postpartum. After becoming a parent, she saw firsthand the challenges of infant feeding and became a certified lactation counselor (CLC). Shira served as a Medical Director at a continuing medical education (CME) company, designing clinician education to improve patient outcomes and now is the Medical Partnerships Manager at Bobbie, an infant formula startup. She lives outside of Boston with her husband and two daughters. Connect with Shira Page and Bobbie: HiBobbie.com The Feeding Friendly Program Facebook Instagram LinkedIn TikTok Shira on LinkedIn ----------- Did you know that you can now earn CEUs from listening to podcasts? That's right — over at RNegade.pro, they're building a library of nursing podcasts offering continuing education credits, including episodes of The Nurse Keith Show! So just head over to RNegade.pro, log into the portal, select Nurse Keith (or any other Content Creator) from the Content Creator dropdown, and get CEs for any content on the platform! Nurse Keith is a holistic career coach for nurses, professional podcaster, published author, award-winning blogger, inspiring keynote speaker, and successful nurse entrepreneur. Connect with Nurse Keith at NurseKeith.com, and on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Nurse Keith lives in beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico with his lovely fiancée, Shada McKenzie, a highly gifted traditional astrologer and reader of the tarot. You can find Shada at The Circle and the Dot. The Nurse Keith Show is a proud member of The Health Podcast Network, one of the largest and fastest-growing collections of authoritative, high-quality podcasts taking on the tough topics in health and care with empathy, expertise, and a commitment to excellence. The podcast is adroitly produced by Rob Johnston of 520R Podcasting, and Mark Capispisan is our stalwart social media manager and newsletter wrangler.

When Erik was 20 years old he was in a car accident that changed his life. His girlfriend ended up dying in the accident and he suffered a major concussion. Throughout the next 2 years Erik developed Post Traumatic Stress and went through many dark times. Then he saw a "Time Magazine" article that claimed the best natural stress reliever was mindfulness meditation. Learning to develop a resilience skills practice he learned to regulate and control his thoughts and emotions. This could allow him to influence his physiology and change his relationship with himself, others and life. Erik ended up being able to shift his PTSD into Post Traumatic Growth. There is amazing power within each of us, and learning to cultivate the power of resilience can move many of us through obstacles and challenges Erik obtained a graduate degree in Performance Psychology from the University of Denver in 2010 and is a qualified mind-body medicine teacher from University of Massachusetts Medical School. For 6 years he worked as a consultant for the military, teaching resilience training and designing mental training programs for soldiers to create high-performing teams. This work includes leadership development with high-ranking leaders, work with Special Operations, Apache helicopter pilots. Over the last year Erik has worked with doctors, hospitals and health care clinics to reduce burnout and workplace conflicts. Currently, Erik is the CEO of SatiMind, where he does keynote speeches, coaching and training. There he helps organizations, teams and individuals go from a stress mind to a resilient mind. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/new-mind-creator/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/new-mind-creator/support

Using OnePerfect's innovative Shift App, 90% of surveyed users shifted toward a better state of mind using a ‘shift' anytime. In this episode, Dr. Erin Elmore speaks with Dr. Sean Sullivan. Sean is a licensed psychologist and founder of OnePerfect, an on-demand wellness platform that delivers personalized mindset 'shifting' experiences, called ‘Shifts'. Dr. Sullivan began his formal psychology education at Harvard University. He interned at the Center for Mindfulness and Science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School prior to completing a psychology residency at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, and postdoctoral training based at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Sullivan's clinical research focuses on applying technology to improve mental health — particularly by teaching anyone how to shift their state of mind on demand. As a psychotherapist for over twenty years, he has written popular psychology books and articles and created digital mental health, wellness, and peak performance psychology courses, apps, tools, and a psychology stage show.     If you are an individual and would like to learn more about One Perfect Shift, please visit: https://www.oneperfectshift.com To subscribe to One Perfect Shift, please visit: https://www.oneperfectshift.com/subscribe If you are an organization or company and would like to learn more information about One Perfect Shift, please visit: https://oneperfect.com

Shira Page is an NP and clinical lactation counselor working in clinician engagement and education at Bobbie, an infant formula startup. Her career has centered around improving the clinical care of people in their most challenging moments. She studied nutrition and dietetics, followed by a Master Degree in Nursing at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Her clinical expertise includes endocrinology, women's health, and weight medicine. She worked as a nurse practitioner at Mount Auburn Hospital, focusing on endocrine concerns during pregnancy and postpartum. After becoming a parent, she saw firsthand infant feeding challenges and became a certified lactation counselor (CLC). Before joining Bobbie, Shira was a Medical Director at a continuing medical education (CME) company, designing clinician education to improve patient outcomes. She lives outside of Boston with her husband and two daughters. Linkedin for Shira: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shirapagenp/ https://medical.hibobbie.com/ Follow up with the Doctor Nurse Podcast here! Success NP- Etsy Shop developed by my best friend and me who are both Nurse Practitioners and create beautiful designs for your life! Check us out.

Is spring fever a real thing? This episode begins with a brief discussion on what spring fever is, what the symptoms are and if there is a cure. https://www.newswise.com/articles/spring-fever-blossoms-in-warm-weather-but-is-it-a-real-ailment Why do we name generations? We have baby boomers, millennials, Gen Z, Gen X – what is the point of grouping people based solely on when they were born? Well, it turns out that it helps to explain a lot of what is going on in our culture. There are some interesting trends occurring that you can link to certain generations. And it is also fascinating to see how generations change over time. Joining me to explain all this is Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University. Jean is the author of more than a hundred scientific publications and books based on her research. Her latest book is called Generations: The Real Differences between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents―and What They Mean for America's Future (https://amzn.to/3Amq2VH). There have been many major medical advancements in the last 150 years or so. When you look closely, the stories behind how those breakthroughs happened are often not what you would expect. Many medical advancements are the result of accidents, chance and crazy ideas. And some of the people behind those breakthroughs are frankly - a little odd. Here to tell some of these fascinating stories is Andrew Lam, M.D. Andrew is a retinal surgeon, an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and author of the book The Masters of Medicine: Our Greatest Triumphs in the Race to Cure Humanity's Deadliest Diseases (https://amzn.to/41BwqED). Do you use a bar of soap in the shower or at your sink? If so, there may be a problem. Listen and I'll explain what it is. https://www.bathbombfizz.com/does-bar-soap-clog-drains-complete-answer/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

ADD / ADHD are typically discussed as a controversial diagnosis. Some people — including experts — feel that these conditions are over diagnosed, underdiagnosed, or simply don't exist. ADD / ADHD have been used to attack parents, defend behavior challenges, and seemingly everything in between. But what is the real story? Join us as today's guest, Dr. Theresa Cerulli, explains the challenges in helping people with ADD / ADHD and the steps people can take to make sure they get the best care. To learn more -- or read the transcript -- visit the official episode page. Guest Bio Theresa Cerulli, M.D., is a graduate of Tufts University, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Harvard Longwood Residency Program in Adult Psychiatry, and Harvard Fellowships in Medical Psychiatry and Neuropsychiatry. Dr. Cerulli is board certified in psychiatry and is on faculty at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and for NEI, the Neuroscience Education Institute. Dr. Cerulli is the co-founder and prior Chief Medical Officer of ADD Health and Wellness Centers, specializing in the holistic treatment of children and adults with ADD/ADHD and coexisting behavioral health conditions. Her vision is in combining traditional medicine with healthy living to promote cognitive and emotional well-being. Inside Mental Health Podcast Host Gabe Howard is an award-winning writer and speaker who lives with bipolar disorder. He is the author of the popular book, "Mental Illness is an Asshole and other Observations," available from Amazon; signed copies are also available directly from the author. Gabe makes his home in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. He lives with his supportive wife, Kendall, and a Miniature Schnauzer dog that he never wanted, but now can't imagine life without. To book Gabe for your next event or learn more about him, please visit gabehoward.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A beautifully weird conversation with the creator of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. is Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he founded its world-renown Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Clinic in 1979, and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society (CFM), in 1995. He is the author of many books including Full Catastrophe Living and Wherever You Go, There You Are. His latest book, Mindfulness Meditation for Pain Relief, illustrates a range of evidence-based mindfulness meditation practices for those suffering with the challenges of chronic pain. In this episode we talk about:The origins of MBSR and its relation to pain reliefPain vs. SufferingThe accessibility of awarenessThe limitation of mindfulness meditation as a self-improvement practiceThe quote, “open your mouth and you're wrong” Jon Kabat-Zinn's definition of of healing Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/jon-kabat-zinn-580 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Food is medicine and food can either add to our health or take away from it.  On this episode of the Live Greatly podcast Kristel Bauer sits down with Sandra Musial MD to discuss the value of plant based nutrition and how you can get your kids excited about nutritious eating. Dr. Musial is one of the founders of Plant Docs which is a non-profit organization founded by 3 MDs who were trained and practiced medicine in the traditional sense but also discovered the power of food to both heal and be a major contributor to many chronic diseases, depending on one's choice.  Tune in now! Key Takeaways from This Episode: Why Dr. Musial started Plant Docs What are some of the main things people should be thinking about when it comes to nutrition What is Plant based nutrition Simple ways to add more plants into your diet How to get kids excited about eating more whole foods and plants Diet's impact on health and chronic disease Some powerhouse foods About Dr. Sandra Musial: Sandy is a physician specializing in food is medicine and disease reversal who believes that the foundation of a healthy life starts with whole plant based food. She earned a BS degree in Nutritional Sciences and an MD degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She has worked in a private practice and at Hasbro teaching the pediatric residents and medical students. She is a Culinary Coach from Harvard's CHEF Coaching program, has a certificate in Plant Based Nutrition from eCornell, and a Health Coaching certificate from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition®. Sandy is board certified in Pediatrics and Obesity Medicine and started an pediatric obesity clinic and the first vegetable garden at Hasbro Children's Hospital. Though she has witnessed the healing power of conventional medicine, she has also seen its limitations, especially with regard to disease prevention through healthy nutrition. Sandy started Plant Docs as an avenue for people to learn about the power of plant based nutrition to preserve health and even reverse many chronic diseases. Sandy enjoys gardening, yoga, knitting and sweater alchemy. View Plant Docs website HERE Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plantdocspvd/?hl=en  Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgx2LUlXOlbv9imv_ZHYJhQ  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandramusial/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plantdocspvd/  About the Host of the Live Greatly podcast, Kristel Bauer: Kristel Bauer is a corporate wellness expert, in-demand Keynote Speaker and TEDx speaker with a mission of supporting companies and individuals on their journeys for more happiness, success & well-being. With Kristel's unique background in Integrative Psychiatry, business and media, she provides invaluable insights and strategies to empower, inspire and motivate companies, leadership and sales teams as well as other groups and organizations. Kristel shares key insights into high-power habits, leadership development, mental well-being, peak performance, resilience, success & a modern approach to work/life balance. Using a blend of authenticity, Psychology & Science, Kristel provides insights to excel in sales and thrive as a team leader. Kristel's messaging supports company profitability while promoting vibrant company cultures with healthier and happier employees.  Kristel is a contributing writer for Entrepreneur and she is an influencer in the business and wellness space having been recognized as a Top 10 Social Media Influencer of 2021 in Forbes.  As an Integrative Medicine Fellow & Physician Assistant, Kristel has a unique perspective into optimizing well-being and achieving success. Kristel has been featured in Forbes, Forest & Bluff Magazine & Podcast Magazine and she has contributed to Real Leaders Magazine. She has been live on ABC 7 Chicago, WGN Daytime Chicago & Ticker News. To Book Kristel as a speaker for your next event, click here. Website: www.livegreatly.co  Follow Kristel Bauer on: Instagram: @livegreatly_co  LinkedIn: Kristel Bauer Twitter: @livegreatly_co Facebook: @livegreatly.co Youtube: Live Greatly, Kristel Bauer To Watch Kristel Bauer's TEDx talk of Redefining Work/Life Balance in a COVID-19 World click here. Disclaimer: The contents of this podcast are intended for informational and educational purposes only. Always seek the guidance of your physician for any recommendations specific to you or for any questions regarding your specific health, your sleep patterns changes to diet and exercise, or any medical conditions.  Always consult your physician before starting any supplements or new lifestyle programs. All information, views and statements shared on the Live Greatly podcast are purely the opinions of the authors, and are not medical advice or treatment recommendations.  They have not been evaluated by the food and drug administration.  Opinions of guests are their own and Kristel Bauer & this podcast does not endorse or accept responsibility for statements made by guests.  Neither Kristel Bauer nor this podcast takes responsibility for possible health consequences of a person or persons following the information in this educational content.  Always consult your physician for recommendations specific to you.

For episode 203 of the Metta Hour Podcast, we have the first in a special series celebrating Sharon's new book, “Real Life.” This interview features a conversation between Sharon and Jon Kabat-Zinn, pulled from the Living An Authentic Life Summit. Jon is Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he founded the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, and its world-renown Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic. He is the author of 15 books, including the bestseller Full Catastrophe Living. His latest book published in 2023 is Mindfulness Meditation for Pain Relief: Practices to Reclaim Your Body and Your Life.The conversation begins with Jon leading a guided meditation practice, followed by a dynamic interview in which Jon and Sharon discuss:• Jon's first exposure to meditation• mindfulness as a love affair• what is authentic living• translating ancient teaching of the Buddha• Jon's early teaching at UMass• freeing ourselves from delusion• waking up in every moment• the compassion in mindfulness• finding freedom from painTo learn more about Jon's work, teaching schedule, and latest book, Mindfulness Meditation for Pain Relief, you can visit his website. To hear this interview in its entirety, you can sign up right here for the Living an Authentic Life Summit which runs online from March 29th – April 2nd and it is free to join.“When you tune into yourself, you're actually tuning into the entire universe, of which you are an intimate and insanely beautiful and mysterious part.” – Jon Kabat-ZinnSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Content Warning: Detailed sexual assault memories and related trauma discussionOur bodies absorb every experience we have. These experiences can manifest in our bodies mentally, emotionally, and physically. So when we suffer a traumatic event, how does that resonate in our bodies? And how can we heal from those resonating responses? I'm joined today by Yoga Therapist and Founder of the Trauma Healing Yoga Therapy Program, Anissa Hudak. Anissa and I talk about PTSD from trauma and how those memories live in us and return unbidden. Most importantly, Anissa shares how to process that trauma and how to walk a healing journey.  Anissa and I each share personal stories of sexual assault and triggered traumatic memories as ways to really dig into Anissa's processes surrounding healing. She explains where trauma lives in the body and brain, how it might look physically, and how PTSD draws on those memories. She details the differences between yoga and yoga therapy and links the physicality of yoga to the ability to heal the body's trauma. It's a tough but rewarding conversation today that sheds necessary light on a topic all too familiar to us but not talked about enough.About Anissa HudakAnissa's life has been intertwined with PTSD/Trauma and the military. Not only is she the daughter of a Vietnam Veteran, she was also married to an active duty member (and Iraq/Afghanistan Veteran) for over 20 years. For 3 years, she volunteered at the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Riley, Kansas providing yoga therapy, meditation, and other holistic treatments to the soldiers, family members, and staff. After seeing others struggle, and having her own personal struggles with trauma/PTSD, she was inspired to create the Trauma Healing Yoga Therapy Program.As a Yoga Therapist and founder of the Trauma Healing Yoga Therapy Program, she guides others in the use of effective, science based yoga therapy and other holistic techniques for the management/healing of symptoms relating to PTSD and trauma for people who want to control their PTSD - not allow it to control them.Recently, she has focused her efforts to working with women who have been sexually traumatized to help them heal their PTSD (and other trauma related issues) with yoga therapy. As a 2x rape survivor, she intimately understand the needs these women face, and helps them navigate their healing journeys.Anissa earned her 200 RYT, 500 RYT and was awarded her Certification in Yoga Therapy from the International Association of Yoga Therapy. Additionally, she has completed a 120 Hour YogaFit Warriors training and the MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) online course through the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Currently a student with the Phoenix Rising School of Yoga Therapy, Anissa is learning another approach to utilizing yoga to help release trauma from the body. She works with people with all types of physical conditions, but specializes in working with those suffering from PTSD, TBI's and all trauma-related issues and has been for over the past 5 years.Contact Anissa Hudak, C-IA YT; 500 RYTFounder of the Trauma Healing Yoga Therapy ProgramWebsite | Facebook | Instagram | Email | LinkedIn__Resources discussed in this episode:EMDR—Learn more about Dr Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:Website: www.wayzahealth.comDownload my free Food Freedom Roadmap hereFollow me on Facebook and Instagram

You will not believe who today's guest is!    The one and only, Dr. Jessica Griffin, previous co-host of Lifetime's Married at First Sight, renowned relationship expert, and clinical psychologist.     After a lifetime of studying relationships and coaching couples, Dr. Jessica Griffin unexpectedly finds true love in an ironic twist of fate, and now recounts her story of finding lasting love and offers invaluable advice in her new book, 'Relationship RX: Prescriptions for Lasting Love and Deeper Connection'.   "If you're not in your ideal relationship right now, or you're not feeling the way that you want to in your love life,  there is always hope for people and you can find love in really wild ways." - Dr. Jessica Griffin   Dr. Jessicaica Griffin is a clinical and forensic psychologist with a specialty in trauma and relationships. She is an associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and the CEO of Love Builder, a relationship company providing online courses to couples, singles, and parents.   Dr. Jessica Griffin had always been drawn to relationships and wanted to be a psychologist since she was nine. Which led her to study trauma and relationships. After getting married to the father of her three children, they eventually grew apart. She got involved in television and worked on many shows, eventually meeting her now husband, Jon Francetic, through Married at First Sight.    Dr. Pepper and Dr. Jessica Griffin have co-authored a book,  Relationship RX, to help people strengthen their relationships, drawing on their own experiences and those of the couples they have worked with.    Through this work, Dr. Griffin has found that hope and love can be found in unexpected places and that it can feel good to be true to yourself.   Inside of this episode we discuss:  1. The importance of healing and releasing our past on the path to love  2.  Dr. Jessica Griffin's own personal journey to love (and her time on Reality TV)  3. Strategies for strengthening relationships (and the truth about healing and trauma)    If you're ready to take ownership of your healing, and and attract the relationship you've always wanted, then you'd love the Empowered.Secure.Loved. Program!    Apply to the Empowered.Secure.Loved Program Here:    Click Here to Apply   Connect with Dr. Jessica Griffin:    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.jessicagriffin/  Website: http://www.drjessica.com/about  Grab Relationship RX here:  Buy it Here on Amazon Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating here:  Click Here to Leave a Review

“It's one of the real tragic mythologies of our culture – this crazy fantasy that real winners are just non-stop on top… it's completely impossible.” – Dr Ronald Siegel  ***********************************************  SUPPORT DR. AMY ROBBINS:  If you're enjoying the podcast and finding value in guest interviews, ghost stories, and the content I share, please consider supporting the show by becoming a Patreon member for as little as $5 a month at Patreon.com/DrAmyRobbins  As a member you'll get more say in the content we cover and exclusive access to behind-the-scenes goodness!   Stay Connected with Dr. Amy Robbins:  Facebook Instagram YouTube Website   ***********************************************  EPISODE SUMMARY:  Have you ever felt jealousy, stress or even anger on social media, but you keep right on scrolling? What about feelings of sadness and loneliness? How do you usually cope with these feelings? Well maybe the secret is to remind yourself that you're ordinary…  Today we talk with Dr. Ronald Siegel, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School, serving on the Board of Directors and faculty of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. He serves on the faculties of the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion at the Cambridge Health Alliance and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He has written and edited several books; his most recent “The Extraordinary Gift of Being Ordinary” is out now.  Listen in to hear what it means to be ordinary, how we balance conspicuous consumption vs. conspicuous frugality, the greatest informer of how to live, and the key to joy.  Topics We Discuss:  [3:40] Social media presents an unrealistic picture vs. ordinary day-to-day  life. Constant self-monitoring may be genetic. Obsession with selfies and how much we lose the present by wanting to present it perfectly [05:52] We have an instinct for social connection. What social media likes do to the brain and our emotions. How we compare ourselves to others and the constant habit to evaluate our life.  [06:40] Being out with friends is a completely different experience. Safe social connection is where we stop trying to impress, and preoccupations with self fall away so we can open up and be vulnerable.  [7:58] The idea of a “vulnerability hangover” after opening up maybe too much. Metacognitive awareness is the antidote:  the ability to see a thought as just a thought. [9:30] The key to well being is the quality of our relationships. [11:35] Happiness vs. self acceptance or well-being. Allowing feelings to come and go, and allow the emotions to move through us. . The fast changing emotions dn the how much they fluctuate in the day. Once we see how much our emotions can be altered throughout the day, it is all programmable.  [13:10] Just like physical health is about getting sick and getting well again, emotional health is about feeling the range of emotions, including less tolerable emotions, and being able to recover and rebalance.  [14:00] A mindfulness exercise. Allowing thoughts and emotions to flow in and out diffuses intensity.  [19:30] Balancing conspicuous consumption vs. conspicuous frugality. Buying luxury items to show off that we can buy them vs. showing off that we are “enlightened” enough not to care about physical things.  Marketing and consumerism (and even anti-consumerism) and society's obsession with tiers and rankings.  [23:05] Self-esteem vs. self-compassion. How to support your child during and after an upsetting event. We must learn to process these emotions and not try to protect others from them, which prolongs the exposure to the trauma.  [28:18] Death is the greatest informer for how to live better. Awareness of death is a great way to disconnect from the self-esteem roller coaster. All things change. Death is a powerful leveler.  [30:25] Three pronged approach to embracing being ordinary: work with 1) heads, 2) hearts, and 3) habits. 1) Where did I get the idea that being smarter/prettier/richer is better? See the folly in being caught in these patterns. 2) Open to the hurt and disappointment to really feel them and then release them. 3) Evaluate where we put our energies. Are we going to jump on social media or call a friend? FOLLOW DR. RONALD SIEGEL:  Find Dr. Ronald Siegel and the programs he offers on https://drronsiegel.com/  or on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/drronaldsiegel/ Life, Death and the Space Between is brought to you by:  Dr. Amy Robbins | Host, Executive Producer  PJ Duke | Executive Producer  2 Market Media | Video and Audio Editing  Mara Stallins | Outreach & Social Media Strategy  Claire | Clairperk.com | Podcast Cover Design

Dr. Russo is a board-certified neurologist, psychopharmacology researcher, and author. He is the Founder and CEO of credo-science.com.   He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania (Psychology), and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, before residencies in Pediatrics in Phoenix, Arizona and in Child and Adult Neurology at the University of Washington in Seattle. He was a clinical neurologist in Missoula, Montana for 20 years in a practice with a strong chronic pain component. In 1995, he pursued a 3-month sabbatical doing ethnobotanical research with the Machiguenga people in Parque Nacional del Manu, Peru. He has held faculty appointments in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Montana, in Medicine at the University of Washington, and as visiting professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harvard University, and Johns Hopkins University. He has also published numerous book chapters, and over fifty articles in neurology, pain management, cannabis, and ethnobotany. His research interests have included correlations of historical uses of cannabis to modern pharmacological mechanisms, phytopharmaceutical treatment of migraine and chronic pain, herbal synergy and phytocannabinoid/terpenoid, serotonergic and vanilloid interactions. He has consulted or lectured on these topics in 39 US states and Canadian provinces and 39 countries.