psychotherapy

Digesting Hannibal – Season 1, Ep4

Episode 4 – Ouef Warning: Wasn’t a big fan of the episode from a psych perspective, and may have vented a little. We start with Will and Hannibal in therapy. Will describes his house, and seeing it from a distance. “It’s really the only time I feel safe.” Hannibal pivots this to thinking about Hobbs and how Will knew him. “Like a bloodhound.” Will discloses that he tried very hard to understand him. Hannibal furthers this to exploring how Will felt about finding the body of Marissa. Will admits that he felt guilty, “because I felt like I killed her.” Here

Digesting Hannibal – Season 1, Ep3

Episode 3 – Potage We open with Garrett Jacob Hobbs and Abigail Hobbs observing a deer. They’re hunting together. She misses the first time, but succeeds the second. Yet she’s distressed over killing it. She’s internally conflicted about killing, while her father is happy. She tells her father about how amazing deers are supposed to be, with regret. Her father one-ups her on each statement; they’re still beautiful and smart, even in death. He has the plan to “honor her” and use all of her parts, but have his daughter do the cutting with a knife. She’s distressed. He’s desensitizing

Digesting Hannibal – Season 1, Ep2

Episode 2 – Amuse-Bouche We open on bullet shells hitting the ground. Will at the firing range. He’s haunted by Garrett Jacob Hobbs. Even in his dreams. He awakens to entering a crime scene with Jack, the attic of Hobbs, filled with mounted antlers. Jack maintains that his daughter, Abigail, could be an accomplice in the prior murders. “Hobbs killed alone.” As usual, Will is very certain. But someone else was there in that attic. Someone with red hair. We meet FREDDIE LOUNDS, an online tabloid reporter. Will stands in his classroom teaching his students. And yet he is still

Digesting Hannibal – Season 1, Ep1

Episode 1 – Apertif We begin with a murder scene. A man and a woman killed. We meet WILL GRAHAM, an FBI teacher and profiler. He’s assessing the scene, and through a metronome device we watch time rewind to before the murder. Will has the ability to imagine himself in the killer’s place, conducting the murder himself, and understand the murder through this process. We watch him kill the couple, and learn about the killer in the process. The story cuts to him lecturing a class on the murder. He’s approached by JACK CRAWFORD, the head of the Behavioral Science unit (think

On Loneliness

There’s an emptiness that many of us feel every day. Sometimes we feel it when we’re away from someone. Sometimes we feel it when we’re surrounded by people. It isn’t depression, per se. We have all experienced it. Unless you’re schizoid, of course. Loneliness is a want. When we want, we create a gap between what we have, and what we don’t. That gap hurts. Commonly we try to distract ourselves so we don’t have to pay attention to that pain. We don’t want to feel it. We have this deep fear it will consume us. It is almost as

In Brief for Those New to Therapy

If you ask ten different therapists what it is they do, you’ll get twenty answers. A therapist talks. A therapist listens. Using the term “therapy” implies only one thing, so for those who don’t know what therapy is, it’s hard to get a grasp on it. It’s even harder to understand that there’s many types of therapy. So let me begin with a comparison to religion. Religion is similar to therapy, in that they both have belief systems. Therapy is usually based more on research and evidence, though, rather than faith. Trying to pretend that there is one “religion” doesn’t

10 Life Lessons from a Psychiatrist

I run into the same issues everywhere, from patients, co-workers, and friends. People are stuck, and not sure how to “un-stuck” themselves. I’ve noticed some basic rules on how to live a more fulfilled life, to make life easier, and make you more effective. Consider them like guideposts if you feel off track. Some may be obvious. Others, maybe not so much. It’s not about knowing them. It’s about where you put your attention and effort. 1. Be Polite I’m not suggesting to be fake or disingenuous. Instead find the way to being kind to others. And if kindness can’t be

Why I hate Xanax

Macro shot of white pills with one blue pill

A lot of people like Xanax. It’s given out like candy. People get it from their friends, from their primary care doctors, even from their psychiatrist. I hate it. I might go so far as to say it’s evil, though really it’s just bringing out the worst aspects of our nature. In my professional opinion, it’s bad for you. But no one wants to hear that. Yes, it feels good when you take it. People take it for anxiety. They feel less anxious (usually) after taking it. Must be working, logic would dictate. Unfortunately this is short-sighted, in the same

Chemicals, Depression, and the Mythos of Natural

natural stalactite looking like the head of a dog upside down

Usually by the time a depressed person comes in to see me, it’s because what they’re doing hasn’t been working. Therapy hasn’t been helping, or they don’t have the time or finances to do therapy. So as a psychiatrist, I offer an antidepressant. And almost every day, people hesitate. They don’t hesitate because they doubt whether the medications work (a separate debate). They hesitate because they want to follow a “natural” lifestyle or philosophy. Now I follow a principle of using as little medication as needed, recognizing a propensity in many colleagues to use more and chase every symptom with

Well maybe it’s like physics. Kinda.

I was at a party once of non-medical people. A woman we’ll call Jill comes up to me. She’s a teacher, 28 years old, and talks to me about her teaching middle schoolers. I mention what I do, and I get a surprised look. She’s intrigued, but then brings up all the complaints she’s heard. “My friend went to a psychiatrist, and they were horrible… And isn’t it true that the DSM is run by drug companies?” “So you’re pushing pills all day?” “Why can’t psychiatry figure it out better?” Where do I start in addressing so many myths? Ultimately