Meeting the Psychiatric Needs of Mental Health Clinicians

In this podcast, "Shame is slavery. Authenticity is freedom. Humanity bridges the two," moderator Michael F. Myers, MD interviews fellow psychiatrists John Budin, MD, and John S. Tamerin, MD, about mental health professionals living with psychiatric illness.

"The sad irony is that many do not get the kind of care that they so selflessly give to others, and what they need and deserve themselves," Dr. Myers said. "The purpose of this podcast is to explore this phenomenon and suggest ways in which an attitudinal and collective shift can lift this cloak of shame from ourselves, and each other."

Drs. Budin and Tamerin are collaborating on an international project to create a safe place for clinicians with psychiatric disorders to meet.

Dr. Budin is a physician living with bipolar disorder. He has opted to share his story at national and international conferences. He hopes that by doing so other clinicians with mental health disorders can more easily step forward and receive the care they need. He serves on the board of directors of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. He can be reached at physicianwithbipolar@gmail.com.

Dr. Tamerin is in private practice in Greenwich, Connecticut. He is a Clinical Associate Professor at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, where he has been teaching the skills of interviewing and psychotherapy to residents and medical students for more than 30 years. He is a fellow of both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry. He is also a member of the American College of Psychiatrists, the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, and the board of directors and the scientific advisory board of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. He has published extensively. He can be reached at Jtamerin@optonline.net.

Dr. Myers is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and immediate past Vice-Chair of Education and Director of Training in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at SUNY-Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. He is the author of 8 books. He is a specialist in physician health and has written extensively on that subject. Currently, Dr. Myers serves on the Advisory Board to the Committee for Physician Health of the Medical Society of the State of New York.