Hey there, ladies and gents. A warm welcome to those of you who are already familiar with my work; a special greeting to those of you encountering me for the first time.
Today’s post will be a brief shout-out about the range of exciting new material that is now (or will be very soon) available on our site.
First… you can listen right now to my scarily imperfect yet nevertheless potentially quite useful high-speed rant, “The Treatment of Adult ADHD.” This audio, recorded at the 2013 NASW NJ State Convention in Atlantic City, is just back from ahem…rush processing…by our crack Attentionland tech staff. (What’s 14 months among friends?)
Second… please take a look at the newest article: “Gun Violence and the Death of the Prescriber‑Therapist.” This is the first of two parts. This first part sketches out my take on how the politics and economics of modern mental health care inform the crisis of deadly violence in America; the second piece, to follow shortly, will propose some provocative solutions.
These two offerings mark the beginning of a new phase in my attempt to share with the universe what I have learned sitting in my offices in northeast Brooklyn and downtown Manhattan for the past 25 years treating adults with ADD and depression.
Five years ago a series of articles appeared on this site as part of the publication and promotion of my book “Getting Unstuck,” and the material presented then (all still on the site) was a concise statement of my clinical understandings at the time. Since then, our practice has treated nearly 2,000 patients, and our understandings and practices have evolved. Continuing in the quest to offer concise clinical material, we will be publishing, in rapid sequence over the summer, a series of pieces entitled “Attention Deficit Disorders and Treatment Resistant Depression.” This material is already written and needs only to be chopped into bite‑size chunks (hopefully rapidly accomplished, should the dread beasts of procrastination be held at bay).
It seems to me now, however, that it is not enough anymore to simply share the clinical knowledge I have acquired.
Our mental health system is crumbling, failing us miserably despite steady conceptual advances. Lots of talking heads, lots of Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz, no political will, and most of all, no clear vision. Lots of bloody headlines, lots of polemics from left and right both, but no one telling it like it is, or talking about how it should or could be.
So that will be the other theme here in the coming months, psychiatric punditry, perhaps you’ll indulge me if I call it “Shrinking Wisdom.” That’s what I’ve always called it in my intermittently, feverishly, over-driven little brain… my radio show, or my television show or my column, or however it was I was fantasizing about being heard, as the media world has transmogrified itself around me, lo these thirty years.
I’ll be starting with the pieces on gun violence I mentioned above, but there is much more to be said, much to be talked about… America needs a shrink, a Dr. Oz for the brain, a seriously more subtle Dr Phil, a little bit taller Dr. Ruth — someone who can explain mental illness and its treatment in terms that are both accurate and accessible, someone who can cut through the blather and start talking about just what we need to do if we actually going to start using what we know to take care of ourselves. I’ve got more than a little to say about all that, and from now on, pretty regularly I hope, I’ll be saying it here, on TheAttentionDoctor.com.
Look out Dr. Phil: The Attention Doctor is back, and I’m takin’ you on!
Postscript: Watch for a new series of articles, beginning shortly, “ADHD and Treatment Resistant Depression.” This very specific material will be invaluable to anyone trying to sort out the strands of mood and focus that can so often trouble us today.