July 29, 2022
I often get calls or texts or emails from people I know (well and less well) asking for advice in times of their confusion or distress. For the most part I’m happy to be a sounding board and I try to assist when I can. Very often these reach outs […]
June 30, 2022
A friend’s mother died. Not suddenly; she had been ill. But still, he was not “prepared.” Not exactly sure what “prepared” is. Even when the mind knows what is coming, the heart and the gut have a way of putting on the breaks. And upon hearing that a loved one […]
May 27, 2022
“We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness.” This is what Ashley and Wynonna Judd said publicly in response to their mother’s recent death. Much of the world was surprised. Much of it wasn’t. Naomi Judd was a brave and outspoken advocate for mental health […]
April 7, 2022
As many of you know, I write the Sanity Savers newsletters with a hope of being helpful. Some of the articles are more personal than others and I appreciate the feedback you offer. It means a lot. I had written and was ready to post a different article last month, […]
March 4, 2022
As many of you know, I write the Sanity Savers newsletters with a hope of being helpful. Some of the articles are more personal than others and I appreciate the feedback you offer. It means a lot. I had written and was ready to post a different article this month. […]
March 10, 2021
We have long realized that patients with long-term illnesses such as cancer or Alzheimer’s Disease go through phases of inevitable decline that require the medical team to continually adapt treatment to meet their changing needs. Through my work with caregivers who oversee the daily care of family members with such […]
January 29, 2021
January, 2021 by Dr. Dale Atkins Isolation and loneliness are key issues in our post-pandemic world. The COVID-19 crisis has actually distracted us from this issue. We may believe loneliness will go away when the pandemic ends. Wrong! Loneliness will continue after the pandemic is in the rearview mirror. Isolation […]
January 19, 2021
This is the time many of us make New Year’s resolutions which often result in feelings of guilt when we don’t follow through for whatever reason. One popular resolution is “to exercise more this year.” Recently, someone sent me a photo of a trip we took together; it jogged my […]
December 5, 2020
I had begun writing this piece before COVID. I recently unearthed it in my “unfinished — to be used at another time” file. Now, we are in the midst of holidays that look nothing like the holidays we envisioned when I first thought about this piece. I wanted to write […]
December 1, 2020
Reprinted courtesy of The Journal of General Internal Medicine by Steven M. Asch MD, MPH, Dale V. Atkins PhD, Psychology, PC & Anne Walling MD, PhD “Ultimately, the secret of quality is love,” declared Avedis Donabedian, a pioneering systems thinker and the father of modern quality assurance. Few in health […]