Yes, ‘tis the season once again. Time to repost and reread this insanely useful study—your world will be rocked.

The Proud Author and W. W. Norton & Company are Thrilled To Announce the Publication of Her Second Book Today 9/17/2024.

Tragedy struck in the wake of a storm-related power outage a month ago on a Saturday night. But I didn’t know it yet.

Indeed they do! I’ve had quite the July.

On 7/18/24, I received a box of first editions of my second book! (That’s one.) The same day friends who had pre-ordered it, received theirs! (That’s two.) Oh. My. God. This book is really happening.

“A typical neuron makes about ten thousand connections to neighboring neurons. Given the billions of neurons, this means there are as many connections in a single cubic centimeter of brain tissue as there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy.” David Eagleman

This short, accessible, and frequently amusing book opens with “The Half Lesson: Your Brain Is Not for Thinking.” It’s not? Already my mind boggled. Then what’s it for? Wipe your mind of whatever you were thinking (ha) and prepare for a shock.

I bet you are asking yourselves: Doorknob bombshells? Doorknob bombshells in therapy? What is that?

A doorknob bombshell, also known as a doorknob moment, is a clinical phenomenon that occurs in a wide variety of settings. That’s when a patient drops distressing personal information critical to the treatment on their way out the door, hand on the doorknob, and then breaks down.                                 

What should a caring clinician do when a patient does that? It’s a near universal dilemma for clinicians.

Since its inception in 1949, Mental Health Awareness Month has been all about making public, in a spirit of advocacy, the many, many challenges faced by millions of Americans living with mental health conditions.

But there’s not much out there about the working and personal lives of mental health providers. And what there is, is inaccurate, being based on fiction, such as the television sitcom Frasier. Let me make you aware of what my life as a psychiatrist is like.

Let me make you aware of what my life as a psychiatrist is like.

Yes! Not only that—I met my deadline. I am amazed.

You know what’s weird? I can’t remember writing it. Wait, that’s not accurate. I do remember the experience of writing it.

Ideas are everywhere, with two caveats. First, you have to notice them. Second, they’re not all good. By that I mean, worth developing.

What is a good idea?

Writing used to be my happy place. I used to be disciplined, reliable, and productive. Not anymore.

“How’s the book coming?” asks my friend Kristin, best-selling author and major procrastinator. She’s referring to the book W.W. Norton, major publisher of books essential to the practice of psychiatry and neurology, has advanced me actual money to write: 50,000 words, completed manuscript due October 2023.

“Terrible,” I say. “I oversleep, dawdle away the delegated time, then feel relieved when the time runs out. I don’t recognize myself!!!” 

I was invited—out of the blue— to write an academic book by W. W. Norton, a publisher of books essential to the practice of psychiatry and neurology.  I’ve been writing and practicing psychiatry for decades in obscurity and felt like a long-time actor might feel who gets “discovered overnight”— Disbelieving. Thrilled. Validated.

Thinking through how it happened makes me believe that you, too, can write an article that leads to a book deal.

On average I read eight to ten books a month, fiction and non-fiction, for a couple hours at the end of my day in bed. Since July, after landing the book deal with W.W. Norton, I’ve also been reading one book—The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Ian McGilchrist, MD, a British psychiatrist and philosopher—for a couple hours most mornings at the desk after a few cups of coffee.

How many pages do I read in two hours? About ten. The material is so dense, I have to take notes to stay focused. (More on that in a few paragraphs.) I haven’t worked this hard since medical school!