Category: Psychiatry

TRAVEL WITH ME TO JULY 1, 1969, by Art Smukler, MD, author & psychiatrist

by artsmuklermd, posted in Politics, Psychiatry, Self Examination, World events, a psychological view, Writing

I sat in the Airstream, sipped my morning coffee, and savored a fresh blueberry muffin. Are wormholes real? Can we actually slip through one and go back in time? What if we could? Would I really want to go back to the moment when my psychiatric career began? That first day of my first year of residency at PGH (Philadelphia General Hospital)?

In that ancient, medical fortress, thousands of patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, suicide attempts etc. got the help they needed. Now, places like PGH no longer exist. Severely ill patients wander the streets, every day another challenge to find food and a place to sleep.

Would I go back?

Yes!

Don’t close the hospitals! I’d scream. Don’t believe the politicians who promise to treat patients in a community-based mental health system! It’s a lie. All they want to do is save money! I’d scream and yell and spend a lot more time being an activist.

Also…it would really be cool to be young again. All those new adventures. Watching my children grow up. Having a chance to fix the mistakes that, in retrospect, I know I made.

Plus, I’d buy Apple, Tesla, Netflix, Google and on and on before they were really discovered.

Show me the wormhole!

On the other hand, would I be able to come back to 2022? Would I leave everyone behind?

Hmm. Maybe I need to rethink my wormhole fantasy. The whole grass-is-greener scenario could be a nightmare. While I’m screaming to not close PGH, how would I explain to myself that the place is a nightmare – dark, damp, smelly, scary? Having to be there every day, even as a doctor, wasn’t easy. It gave me the creeps.

Life can be complicated.

Maybe, I’ll just enjoy my morning coffee?

Then again, what about…

Check out THE REAL STORY, a mystery. A fun adventure with an amateur sleuth, who needs to go back into his own unconscious.

SO WHAT HAPPENS TO A PSYCHIATRIST AFTER HE RETIRES? by Art Smukler, author

by artsmuklermd, posted in Psychiatry, Self Examination, Writing

I really have no idea, except for one particular psychiatrist – me. The weird thing, or maybe not so weird, is that the time ( now 4 1/2 years ) feels like maybe a month or two. Even with Covid, the time didn’t just fly, it was like a supersonic disappearance into a black hole.

Not that it wasn’t pleasant and rewarding, it was certainly both. And I’ve loved it.

One observation is that as the time went by and my days were filled with interests other than psychiatry, mainly writing fiction, and I spend my time wondering how my fictional characters will navigate the obstacles and catastrophes that I’ve invented, I also wonder how the real people, my cherished patients and friends, who I haven’t seen in all this time are doing.

Thinking about it, it’s no wonder that my retirement was such a seamless transition from my psychiatry practice. Now, I’m trying to help my imaginary characters resolve their conflicts instead of helping real live people.

By the way, if you ever notice that some things that I write are some of the same things that I would say during a session don’t be surprised. It all comes from the same mind.

Also, and very importantly, if you’re of the mind, please go on my blog and let me know how you’re doing. It would be a treat and I promise to respond.

My next blog will be all about what it’s like to publish and perish and then rise from the ashes.

My previously published books, CHASING BACKWARDS, SKIN DANCE, and THE MAN WITH A MICROPHONE IN HIS EAR are still available – but not for long! You’ll see what I mean in my next post.