A Psychiatrist Goes to War

Back from the Abyss: Psychiatry in Stories

Craig Heacock MD

Psychiatry, Bipolar, Suicide, Depression, Ketamine, Psychotherapy, Science, Psychedelics, Health & Fitness, Addiction, Medicine, Psychology, Mental Health

4.8 • 452 Ratings

🗓️ 3 May 2024

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dr. Russell Carr was a career Navy psychiatrist for 20 years and served in Iraq, where today’s story begins. This is a story of a healer, then a terrible wounding, then the healer trying to find his way amidst the chaos of war. This story is about a rite of passage, one that not every psychiatrist faces, but most do at some point-- that of losing the first patient to suicide, then trying to find the strength to move forward.Dr. Russell CarrA Psychiatrist Returns from War-- on Substackht...

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to Back from the Abyss. I'm Dr. Craig Hecock.
0:17.7	Before we start today's story, I wanted to share with you an email I got from a listener.
0:22.1	It was really moving and I thought you all might want to hear it.
0:26.6	Dear Craig, I just wanted to thank you for conveying the message that if you've only ever been on SSRIs, you've never really been treated for depression.
0:35.6	That statement is completely accurate with my
0:38.7	experiences. SSRIs helped me with short-term anxiety, but they don't help me stop crying all the
0:44.4	time or being fatigued or wanting to end my life. I asked my GP if I could start Lamotrigin,
0:51.4	and he was apprehensive, but my psychiatrist agreed straight away.
0:54.8	I took a microdose on Sunday night. I wasn't expecting any effects for it at least a month of
0:59.7	titrating up, but I started getting benefits pretty soon after I took it. I've never been as productive
1:04.8	at work as I have been this week. I've much, much more mental energy. I've gone almost three days
1:10.4	without crying, which is a two-year
1:11.9	record. I've had these issues on and off since I was a teenager. I think you've saved my life.
1:18.2	Honestly, I had plans, not short term, but when there would be no family left to be traumatized.
1:25.5	I'm 49. It is astonishing to be getting these effects now, but man oh man,
1:30.8	is it frustrating that none of the 30 clinicians I've sought help from, including many psychiatrists,
1:35.8	have ever considered a mood stabilizer for me. Now, note from me here, I think you all know that I
1:41.9	don't consider the mocha gene a mood stabilizer.
1:50.0	In any case, it's an antidepressant. You deserve the fees I paid to all of them. Oh, no, I just deserve this letter. Thank you for writing it. What my life could have been if I'd had the right
1:54.9	treatment in time to build a life. I've also had EMDR over the past 12 months. It's astonishing has has set me up well to get the most out of Lomotra gene.
2:03.6	Another therapy that's been around for the three decades that I've needed it, but it's only just been offered to me.
2:08.6	I've told a few people about your glorious podcast, and they were really keen to be told the name of it so they could listen.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Craig Heacock MD, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Craig Heacock MD and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.