Stuff I Want to Share With You

I stole this video from Thought Broadcast.  We are, after all, the Shrink Rappers.  I'm not sure who Steve Balt thinks he is posting this without us. 


Here's a plug for a new psychiatry blog started by a medical student across the pond, called the Manchester Psychiatric Society.


Over on our Clinical Psychiatry News website, ClinkShrink is talking about whether or not the criminally insane ever get released-- a timely topic as John Hinckley Jr.'s hearing for release continues. 


Apparently, my post called No One Likes Me was not quite accurate.  There was technical issue over with KevinMD's Facebook counter, but it was fun writing the post anyway. 


So like when is Clink putting up our next Podcast???  Do feel free to nag her. 

Happy Shrinks!

Today's blog post can be found over on Shrink Rap News on our Clinical Psychiatry News site.

In it, I talk about why psychiatry is the best medical specialty   : ~ )   and I reveal the results of a question we asked to Maryland psychiatrists:  “Overall, are you satisfied with your career as a clinical psychiatrist?”  



So what percentage of respondents do you think said "Yes, I find my work rewarding and would chose this career again?"   Take a guess, then click over to Shrink Rap News and find out the answer!  The article is entitled "Would You Do It Again? Psychiatrists and Career Satisfaction." 


In case you missed it, Roy also has a post up from last week on Health Insurance Exchanges and Accurate Provider Directories.  If you've ever tried to find an In-Network doc, only to discover that everyone listed on the insurance company website is now 6 feet under, you may want to read this.
Ooooh...it's going to annoy Roy that I fooled with the color scheme.   [fixed it. ~Roy]

Psychotherapy and Psychiatry: Keeping it Alive

This is part of a simultaneous 3 site post.

On Shrink Rap Today over on the Psychology Today website, I talk about how high-volume, rapid-care psychiatry shows us at our absolute worst, and I report on survey results about how psychiatrists in Maryland are practicing--- please be forewarned, this was from an emailed poll and the data was not validated or verified, but it is interesting! 



On Shrink Rap News over on the Clinical Psychiatry News website, I make a case for why psychiatry residents should be required to learn how to do psychotherapy even if they don't plan to practice it when they finish training.  


We really don't even have a precise definition of what "psychotherapy" is, and CPT coding has defined it in terms of time spent in a session and reimbursements.  A 50-minute session gets coded as 90807 which stands for "45-50 minute psychotherapy session with medication management on an outpatient basis in a physician's office."   The frequency doesn't matter, nor does the content of what transpires-- at least not for the CPT codes.  But certainly, not everyone who comes for a 50 minute sessions is actually in a formal insight-oriented psychotherapy.  Good care involves listening to the patient before making decisions about medications, and seeing 4 patients an hour, lined up on a conveyor belt, hour after hour, regardless of the patient's need to talk or the complexity of the case-- is no way practice psychiatry (and I personally wouldn't have the stamina).  Those who do it have bought in to an insurer's idea of how the world should work.    In fact, very few psychiatrists in Maryland reported that they practice this way, even if the media would have you believe that this is the norm in psychiatry.


I like to think of psychotherapy as a process over time where the talking itself is part of what heals.  Certainly there is something about talking openly about things which may be troubling, embarrassing, or leave one feeling vulnerable, which is helpful, particularly in a setting deemed to be safe and free from negative judgment.  From the psychiatrist's point of view, psychotherapy is about looking for patterns in thoughts, feelings, behaviors, or reactions, and bringing these patterns to the patient's awareness in a way that may allow him to change.  

Obviously, I think psychotherapy is important to psychiatry.  
Please do check out the other posts on Shrink Rap News and Shrink Rap Today.

You are invited  to comment on any, or all, of the websites.  
While you're here, please take our sidebar poll ----->
And  please do let us know if you have an active psychiatry blog or know of any for our list.


Thank you for participating in today's 3-ring psychotherapy post!

CPN: The Anthrax Report

--I'm posting this for Clink because she is in prison where she can't access blogger.


In ClinkShrink's post on Clinical Psychiatry News she points to some ethically troubling actions in the official investigation into Dr. Bruce Ivins's alleged involvement in the 2001 Anthrax attacks, including the sale of a report containing his medical records.  

 Use of Psychological Profile to Infer Ivin's Guilt is Problematic

Shrink Rap News: Our Second Collateral Blog is Up!

We were invited to blog on the website of Clinical Psychiatry News, a print publication sent to psychiatrists around the country. They launched a website a few months ago and have made bloggers of some of their regular columnists. Shrink Rap, they thought, would having something to add (we hope so!) and we'll be doing a weekly column there.

The CPN website is specifically for psychiatrists and commenting there requires registration--- please do join if you're eligible. For those who aren't, we'll let you know here when we've put up a post and you're welcome to comment on the regular Shrink Rap.

Today's post is up on the CPN Website as an introduction called The Accessible Psychiatry Project.