Shrink Speak

The COVID-19 pandemic is taking an emotional and economic toll on America, add in social unrest over racial injustice, political turmoil, and now the recent passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and the controversy filling of her seat. These events have created a cascade and cycle of emotional responses that are roiling the American population and collectively producing a sense of loss.

Joining Dr. Lieberman in this episode to discuss how to process it all, is Andrew Solomon, Professor of Clinical Medical Psychology at Columbia University Medical Center. Andrew is the winner of the National Book Award for The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression and also wrote Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity; he is an activist in LGBT rights, mental health, and the arts; and his TED talks have been viewed more than 20 million times. Solomon is also the former President of PEN American Center. To learn more about Andrew please visit www.andrewsolomon.com

Also, joining Dr. Lieberman is Kay Jamison, Co-Director of the Mood Disorders Center at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Kay Jamison has won numerous awards and published over 100 academic articles. She has been named one of the "Best Doctors in the United States" and was chosen by Time as a "Hero of Medicine. She is also a best-selling author and her latest book, Robert Lowell: Setting the River on Fire was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Biography in 2018.

The Goldwater Rule is Section 7 in the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Principles of Medical Ethics, which states that it is unethical for psychiatrists to give a professional opinion about public figures whom they have not examined in person. Joining Dr. Lieberman in this episode of Shrink Speak to talk about how the Goldwater Rule came to be is Senator Barry Goldwater’s Son, Former California Congressman Barry Goldwater Jr. Also joining the conversation is Dr. Paul Appelbaum, the Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine and Law, and Director, Division of Law, Ethics and Psychiatry at Columbia. Dr. Appelbaum is also Past President of the American Psychiatric Association.

Mass violence events in America have been occurring unfortunately more and more frequently. After every event the conversation is always, “why does this keep happening?”. Fingers are pointed to things like access to guns and mental illness. But there is a serious and widespread confusion about mass violence and mental illness in America. In this two-part episode, Dr. Lieberman is joined by Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University, Dr. Michael First. Dr. First is a psychiatrist whose focuses is on the diagnostic criteria for mental disorders. Dr. Lieberman and Dr. First fully address and answer the question...”Is mental illness to blame for the rise in mass violence incidents in America”.

To find out more about Dr. Lieberman visit jeffreyliebermanmd.com

As the spotlight on mental health in sports continues to grow, thanks in large part to professional athletes like Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles speaking out publicly about their own mental health struggles, Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman sits down with retired tennis pro Patrick McEnroe to discuss how intense scrutiny, high-stakes pressure, and a “shut up and play” culture can contribute to mental health issues in athletes, and what measures are needed on a sports organization/tournament policy level to better safeguard athletes’ mental health.