Housecleaning

A little post to keep me somewhat organized - though in many respects I don't like organization as it stomps my thinking patterns a bit. However, as life gets more complex, organization keeps the head above water.  So here we are!

1) Contacting me - through the Psychology Today blog and through some comments on this blog I do receive requests for contact.  Unfortunately, these requests quickly drop off the top of my email list as I usually think - okay, will get back to that when I have time - and then I don't end up having time!  I can tell you I am much, much more likely to answer a specific, narrow question that can be dealt with quickly, or anecdotes about how some aspect of paleolithic/traditional-style diets either worked or didn't work for you (best left in a comment for everyone!).  Contacts that sound like you want a full psychiatric consultation will likely not be answered.  I would love to help, but can't do a proper job of that without taking a lot of time that I typically do not have.  Also, I'm not likely to do that without getting paid, and it's illegal and bad practice to do it (except in certain very specific contexts) in states where I am not licensed.  I can't practice medicine over the internet.  Typically, the questions are something like:  "Have you heard of such and such supplement and what do you think of it? Or "do you know any other psychiatrists who practice like you do in [enter your city here]."  The answer is usually no to both questions, for better or worse. 

In addition, there are often transference issues and other relationship issues that are very important in psychiatric treatment and questions, and often someone will seek my help because their relationship with their doctor or therapist has something broken - I can tell you right off that I am not the solution in those cases - the best thing to do is to talk to your own doctor or therapist explicitly about the broken part.  If a mental health professional doesn't jump on that as a very important and interesting part of your treatment, time to maybe look around for someone else (in your area).  Often the most exciting and helpful changes occur after someone tells me how I am not helping them.

2) Comments on Old Posts - There are many fabulous, detailed comments left on old posts, and some with very good questions.  If the winds are blowing right, sometimes I have the time to answer them - often I don't.  I do generally address questions in comments left in the most recent posts.

3) To Do - Last time I left a to do list, I don't think I did much of it (yet) with the biggest bugaboo being thyroid (still working on it).  However I have some very specific ideas in mind now and some of the papers already lined up - here's what I would like to cover next:

a) Diet and violence 2

b) More basic science and genetics/epigenetics of mental health (that is probably a couple of posts - frontal networks, Caspi 2003 paper, etc.) *Dr. K thinks I don't pay enough attention to epigenetics ;-)  - I do think about it a lot but don't always address it necessarily, especially in the generational context as I prefer to focus on things we can change, and I can't do anything about what my grandfather ate.

c) Cannabis, psychosis, and COMT genetics

d) Paper Melissa posted on at hunt.gather.love about acne/brain/gut axis.

e) Trace lithium and suicide again, and lithium and dementia. 

f)  Oxytocin and attachment

g) Frantic, anxious mice and chronic cardio (don't worry, blogblog, I'll try to use a mouse whisperer context)

Usually people bring other papers to my attention that jump the queue - which is fine by me.  But all these papers and subjects are interesting, topical, and will broaden our understanding of all the connections and WHY nutrition is an important piece of the brain environment when one takes a biologic and holistic/scientific approach to maximizing brain health.

Whew.  Time to start cleaning the real house - happy Sunday early morning!