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How Employer-Provider Partnerships Can Transform Treatment-Resistant Mental Health Care
After three decades treating complex psychiatric conditions across diverse clinical settings, I’ve observed how inadequately addressed mental health disorders can devastate lives. And what has become increasingly clear through my work with patients suffering from chronic and even...
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Spirituality Versus Psychiatry: Why Many South Asians Turn to Religion Before Therapy or Psychiatric Medication
Mental health in South Asian communities is a subject influenced by a combination of cultural, social, and religious factors. Many South Asians, particularly those in Western countries, have a unique relationship with mental health care that often leads them to prioritize spiritual or religious...
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Mental Health and Matchmaking: How Stigma Affects South Asian Marriage Prospects
Marriage is a monumental decision in South Asian culture, with families playing an active role in selecting partners. The matchmaking process, through family networks, matrimonial websites, or professional matchmakers, tends to prioritize factors such as education, career, caste, and family...
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The Burden of Being the “Good Child”: How South Asian Kids Suppress Mental Health Struggles
In many South Asian immigrant families, the eldest child is often expected to set an example for younger siblings, excel academically, and fulfill responsibilities that extend beyond their years. These expectations are heightened by the struggles their parents face as immigrants, navigating a new...
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Therapy is for “Other People”: Why Many South Asian Parents Dismiss Mental Health Support
In many South Asian communities, mental health remains a stigmatized topic, leading individuals to suppress their struggles rather than seek help. This cultural undertone often results in both parents and children enduring mental health issues in silence, perpetuating a cycle of unaddressed...
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Black Veterans’ Silent Battle with Mental Health and Addiction Is Costing Lives
When I returned from serving my country, I was a different person. My kids noticed I was distant, and I turned to alcohol and the party life to cope. Years of service had taken a toll on my mental health, and I no longer recognized the man in the mirror. For many veterans like me, the trauma and...
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Assisting Grieving Families to Find Closure While Maintaining Compliance with HIPAA
The most fundamental goals of Harm Reduction and Buprenorphine Programs are to keep people alive and safe. Despite the best efforts of a very dedicated SUD workforce, over 107,000 people died of overdose deaths in 2023. Behind every overdose death is a family or friends in mourning. Often, they are...
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Beyond Moral Panic: The Untold Stories of Harm Reduction and Care on Social Media
When the topic of social media inevitably arises in my conversations about youth suicide with clinicians, policymakers, researchers, parents, and other concerned adults, it is often framed as exacerbating. There is a widespread understanding among older generations that social media is worsening...
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10 Behavioral Health Trends for 2025
I hope everyone had a wonderful start to 2025…I am excited about continuing this ongoing dialogue, through my blog Behavioral Health: Matters, on critically important trends in the behavioral health sector. Here are my thoughts on the 10 areas of focus that we should be thinking about and...
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Brain Structure Differences Are Associated With Early Use of Substances Among Adolescents
Many differences appeared to exist prior to any substance use, pointing to the role brain structure may play in substance use risk, NIH-supported study suggests. A study of nearly 10,000 adolescents funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has identified distinct differences in the...
