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WRITING AND COMMENTARY FEATURED IN
Yoga in Mental Healthcare no longer a stretch
Greg discusses a growing body of evidence supporting yoga in the treatment and prevention of mental illness.
The Stigma of Depression Affects Even Psychiatrists
I’m a psychiatrist, husband, man of color, and proud wellness advocate. Every day, I see patients and tell them: Talk, speak up. But a decade ago, suffering from depression, I didn’t say a word. Men are raised to be strong. Not to show emotion. Not to cry. For a man of color, these expectations are amplified. And they’re killing us. Suicide is now the second-leading cause of death for men in their mid-20s to mid-30s, third--leading for men in their mid-30s to mid-40s.
This Month's Column
Last fall, like seemingly every other person you know, I adopted a pandemic pet—Kai, a rambunctious ten-month-old Lab-golden mix. After a year of watching cats’ tails meandering by patients’ screens or hearing puppies barking in the background, I realized I wanted a pet, too. Perhaps I needed one.
Any mental-health professional will tell you that part of our job involves appreciating the therapeutic benefit of pets. In fact, I’m asked to write letters all the time to authorize emotional-support animals for patients who have been diagnosed with illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD.
Common Says Mental Health Is 'Essential' to Social Change and Racial Justice
During the coronavirus pandemic, Common, the Oscar-winning songwriter, rapper, and activist was watching the news and he didn’t like what he saw: fear-based conversations and divisiveness. Meanwhile, he was working hard to renew himself and stay in a good mental space. “I understood that some people were feeling the weight of the moment, but I also thought, What are the things that are helping me say in a positive mindset? Spirituality, fitness, eating healthy meals consistently, and I was meditating more than I ever had before,” he said.
Why daunte wright's killing is so hard to process
On Monday, when we woke up to news of yet another Black man who was killed by police in Minneapolis, my mind flipped back to the weekend. That's when I watched Two Distant Strangers, the provocative Oscar-nominated short film about a young African-American man (played by Joey Bada$$). His character is stuck in a time loop, and every time he wakes up, he dies by the hands of police brutality—around the same place—but in slightly different ways. Although it was a movie, the story was powerful and felt very real.
Pandemic Pet Therapy: What's So Special About A Critter Friend?
By Patti Neighmond for NPR
Get up and get moving: Dr. Gregory Brown and Kai
Brown says he has been seeing an increase in anxiety, insomnia and depression among patients he has counseled in the past six months. "People are definitely dealing with economic stressors, a hard time with money, and with just being idle" — not getting out of the house much.
A dog "nudging at your foot or barking because they want to go for a walk" can be a real motivation every day to get out and get moving, he says. And that's good emotionally as well as physically. "We know physical activity can help reduce depression."
Greg speaks with CNN's don lemon about how he manages the stress of the news cycle
IN MY PSYCHIATRY PRACTICE, my patients keep telling me, Doc, the news is stressing me out. Which made me wonder: How is someone who works amid the 24-hour news cycle managing the stress? So I turned to Don Lemon—one of a few Black prime-time cable news anchors, who’s not only reporting on racial-justice protests and COVID-19’s toll on communities of color but processing it all in real time and taking severe backlash for his commentary. We talked over Zoom one afternoon in between my seeing patients. Here’s how he’s dealing with everything coming at him, especially as the nation heads into the election.
'Back to normal' anxiety is more common than you might think
Shutdown orders of pretty much everything for the past year managed to shut down something plenty of guys didn’t miss: anxiety. Without events, parties, meetings, and must-see places to miss out on, FOMO—the Fear of Missing Out—was wiped out, too. In my psychiatry practice, I saw more people than ever who were struggling with feeling isolated, and I saw plenty of new cases of depression and anxiety. But none of my patients ever complained about FOMO. Now that the world is turning on again, FOMO is returning with a vengeance, and it’s freaking a lot of guys out.
How a Black Psychiatrist Deals with Depression and Racism
Before starting medical school, I felt like I had hit rock bottom, and late one night, after my family was asleep, I got in my car and drove to a park downtown to walk under the moonlight. At the time, I didn’t know it, but I was dealing with more than one demon: the assault on my mind that is depression and the assault on my identity that is systemic racism. Black men are often victims of daily discrimination, a social determinant of mental health that is directly linked with depression.