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Showing posts from August, 2018

Bubbles

I've been thinking a lot about how we live in an era of infinite access to infinite information (thanks, internet tubes!) yet we still fall into many of the well-established psychological laws, if we can call them that, of human behavior.  Don't worry, this isn't going to be some drawn out post on social psychology. Wikipedia is great for that. I want to talk about bubbles.  Information bubbles, that is. And how each one of us lives in one to some extent, no matter how educated or enlightened we see ourselves to be. And even if we know we live in said bubble, it takes being shown information that directly conflicts with how you think things are, or should be, and the result is you feel kinda ew - the technical term for "ew" being cognitive dissonance. I live in a bubble. In my bubble is the world of academic medicine, academic health psychology, and a circle of psychologists dedicated to people living with chronic digestive illness.  I live in Chicago, a maj

Hey Guess What? There Are Mental Health Concerns Other Than Depression and Anxiety

Greetings! This post may come across as my being bitchy or complaining about something important, especially in the critical advances being made in integrating mental health into the understanding of and care for people living with chronic medical diseases. People who know me well would never describe me as bitchy . Ok, they might. But, if I get one more fucking paper to review that studies "Anxiety and Depression" in patients living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) I'm going to start yelling. Or maybe I'm yelling now. Into the ether via a MacBook screen and drinking a mug of what's really 2 cups of coffee, let's be honest. Hear me out. I've been one of the biggest proponents of incorporating mental health into IBD patient care. Since the early 2000s, my sensei master, Dr. Laurie Keefer, is doing amazing things. First at Northwestern and now in New York at Mount Sinai managing their IBD patient medical home. As is my partner in crime, Dr. Me