Blog

As a holistic psychiatrist, I believe well-being requires looking beyond symptoms—exploring the deep connections between mind, body, and spirit.

This blog is where I share professional insights, personal reflections, and practical ideas gathered from my clinical experience. I offer these thoughts in the hope they might help you on your own path to healing and growth.

Important Notes & Disclaimer

This is NOT Medical Advice: The content shared here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for personalized medical consultation. Always discuss your specific situation and treatment with your individual healthcare provider.
Any external links are provided purely for informational value; I am not affiliated with them and do not generate revenue from them.
Transparency: I occasionally use AI tools to assist in drafting and refining posts.

Thank you for joining me on this journey!

The Window of Tolerance: Understanding Body–Mind Regulation

The human mind is extraordinary. When it’s working well, we create beautiful music, build groundbreaking technologies, and make remarkable scientific discoveries. We’re capable of complex thought and creativity because a part of our brain—the prefrontal cortex (PFC) —grew larger and more sophisticated than that of other mammals. The PFC is the seat of what neuropsychologists call executive function . It’s responsible for planning, problem-solving, moral reasoning, emotional r

Dec 11

Mental Health Recipe for November: Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Maple-Glazed Roasted Brussels Sprouts Recipe This recipe is simple, savory, and sweet with powerful health benefits. Ingredients Ingredient Quantity Notes Brussels Sprouts 2 lbs Trimmed and cut in half lengthwise. Avocado Oil 2-3 Tbsp Enough to lightly coat the sprouts. Salt 1 tsp Use sea salt or kosher salt. Maple Syrup 2 Tbsp Pure maple syrup (Grade A/B dark or very dark). Instructions Prepare the Sprouts: Place the trimmed and halved Brussels sprouts in a large bowl and c

Nov 19

Gratitude: Powerful Brain Boost

As Thanksgiving approaches, I am reminded of the profound importance of gratitude. While it may appear effortless to express gratitude, cultivating this habit can be challenging at times. It can be easier to focus on what we don't have or what we haven't accomplished. This tendency is natural—evolutionarily, our ancestors who noticed and focused on the negative survived, giving us a hardwired negativity bias. Why Our Brains Are Wired for the Negative Survival Precedes Happine

Nov 19

Beyond Avoidance: Why Feeling Your Emotions and Bodily Sensations Is Essential for Mental Health

As a psychiatrist, I often see individuals having difficulty with feeling their emotions. We often get the cultural message that having emotions is weak or that it gets in the way of doing our jobs. Mental health challenges like depression and anxiety also push us toward avoidance of our feeling. We learn to tune out our emotions and the physical sensations in our bodies —a reaction driven by fear and overwhelm in the case of anxiety, or by a sense of being numbed out in d

Nov 4

Let's talk about Sex and Psychiatry

As a psychiatrist, I have the privilege of hearing a lot about people's lives—including their sex lives. When the topic of sex comes up, the question I hear most often is: "What is normal?" My answer is always the same: "Normal" is a spectrum. Whatever makes you and your partner(s) happy, whatever feels good, and whatever helps you connect is what is most important. While everyone has their own unique idea of how often or what kind of sex is "right," the common thread I see

Oct 23

Mental Health Recipe for October: Lentil & Pumpkin Soup

Healthy food nourishes the body and mind. The foods we eat include the the building blocks for neurotransmitter synthesis. They also...

Oct 7

Parenting - I am not perfect but I try my best

I got rid of my Instagram account recently for a lot of different reasons, here is a post I created earlier this month and wanted to...

Oct 1

Mindful Walking

Walking is a healthy way to get our bodies moving. I try to walk every day. Sometimes when I walk, I check out of my body and mainly...

Sep 30

A Journey into Self-Compassion

This spring, I attended a Mindful Self-Compassion retreat led by Christopher Germer, PhD, and Susan Fairchild. It was an eye-opening...

Sep 15

Menla Retreat - Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart: The Best of Buddhism & Psychotherapy with Mark Epstein, MD and Robert Thurman, PhD

This summer, I had the opportunity to attend a retreat in the Catskill Mountains at Menla . The gathering brought together Dr. Mark...

Aug 24

Nutritional Lithium and Mental Health

Recent reports have emphasized the possible advantages of lithium in treating cognitive disorders, and I would like to discuss it. When I...

Aug 18

Navigating Political Stress to Improve Mental Health

Political news and discussions can be a huge source of stress and can lead to worsening depression and anxiety. Whether you’re a die-hard...

Aug 16

Therapy - can it help, and if not, what then...

I often get asked if psychotherapy can be helpful from folks curious to try it but worried about what it is and if it is effective. My...

Apr 21

Parenting - Useful books from the past year

Parenting is hard. There is a lot of pressure to give our kids the best possible upbringing, but is is not always clear what that means...

Jan 19

Relationships - Yoga for Couples

My husband and I both believe that like any good thing relationships take work. It can be hard to find the time to work on them. It can...

Dec 5, 2024

Seasonal Depression

One of the benefits of living in Upstate New York is having four beautiful seasons. At the same time, Winter here is long. Living at...

Nov 13, 2024