What an honor to interview fashion designer, YouTuber, makeup lover and reality TV personality Matt Sarafa this week. Matt describes his love of fashion that was sparked at age 7 watching Project Runway. During the interview he reports his “guilty pleasure” being reality television. Guess what? His passion for fashion and the path he paved […]
Are you ready for the latest on pediatric addiction? I was fortunate to attend the American Physician Institute 6th Annual MasterPsych conference in Laguna, California. I was struck by the passion, enthusiasm and compelling data presented at a lecture on Substance Use Disorders in Children and Adolescents by Dr. Ximena Sanchez-Sampler, a Harvard addiction psychiatrist. […]
Can a child or teen suffer from depression? Yes. A thorough clinical assessment needs to happen and every environmental, physical and emotional dimension needs to be taken into account. Kids can experience “feeling sad” or “irritable” for many reasons: for being bullied, for dealing with parents getting a divorce, for moving to a new home, […]
Last November I attended an event entitled Compassion In Action that Dr. Sonnee Weedn organized with guest Humanitarian Buddhist Monk Lama Tenzin Choegyal. Words cannot express how peaceful and inspiring the morning retreat was in which he blessed our work and inspired all of us. Lama Tenzin Choegyal shared his spiritual path and adventure that […]
Autism advocate, author and recent Loyola Marymount University graduate, Christine Motokane, boldly states on my podcast this week, “I am breaking stereotypes.” Understatement. Christine shares her triumphs and challenges as a female with autism who was diagnosed at age four. As a teen she read many books about autism that she described were “very […]
“Psychiatrists and psychologists were like our version of superheroes,” a comment Ilana Glazer, actress, comedian, and previous student at NYU made about her experience with the CAMS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies) program. As Vice Chair for Education and Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the NYU School of Medicine, Dr. […]
What does Family Peace even mean? Are you thinking that sounds a bit too “Kumbayah”? I do not think every minute of family time is going to go smoothly. I am talking about “mostly kind, mostly peaceful”. Trust me. I am a Mother as well as a Doctor. We have teens and a kindergartner. So, […]
“Dr. Denise, you need to see the movie, Concussion, with Will Smith. It depicts exactly what I have experienced living with depression and dementia, ” encouraged Gary Goodridge, legendary MMA UFC and Pride fighter. That is exactly what I did before interviewing him this week. I didn’t stop there. I read his book “Gatekeeper: The […]
I am personally grateful that I went to medical school and became an Adult and Child Psychiatrist. Why? Because mental health is the most important part of a person’s well-being. Happy individuals with healthy thoughts create a society in which we can all thrive. We need to think of our children and our future. We […]
Did you know that Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) affects 2-4% of adolescents and that 80% of people who have OCD experience symptoms before age 18? It is important to point out that most mental health challenges start in childhood. I value science and the need for a uniform way of discussing mental health, yet feel […]