A father's and physician's wide-ranging thoughts regarding our typical, and not so typical, lives
Expression of such strong emotions may lead to equally strong expressions:
Graffiti
Piercings
Tattoos
Mood disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders
Self harm
Substance abuse
High risk behaviors
Violence
Charles Tadros, M.D.
August 10, 2022
Saint Louis, Missouri
Charles Tadros, M.D.
August 9, 2022
Saint Louis, Missouri
CONNECTING WITH SPOUSE/PARTNER,
CONNECTING WITH FRIENDS,
REWARDING OURSELVES AFTER MOWING THE LAWN/DOING YARD WORK,
RITUALS OF BARBEQUING,
COOKING DINNER,
RELAXING ON WEEKENDS and DURING VACATIONS,
SHARING TEAM SPIRIT AND ENJOYING SPORTS,
RELAXING AND UNWINDING AFTER A HARD DAY’S WORTH OF WORK, AND
PARTIES: BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, GRADUATIONS, WEDDINGS, SHOWERS, HOLIDAYS, COMING OF AGE CELEBRATIONS
ALL OF THESE ARE POSITIVE ACTIVITIES, WORTH REPEATING. WHAT BECOMES PROBLEMATIC IS THAT WE ATTACH ALCOHOL USE, WHICH, BY ITSELF, HAS THE POTENTIAL OF BECOMING PHYSICALLY, PSYCHOLOGICALLY, AND SOCIALLY HARMFUL.
THE LOGIC OF WHAT FOLLOWS IS THAT IF WE REMOVE ALCOHOL USE, WE POTENTIALLY REMOVE ALL THE POSITIVE ASSOCIATIONS, AND FOND MEMORIES (AND POTENTIALLY RUIN FUTURE MEMORIES, YET TO BE MADE).
WHAT MANY OF US HAVE NOT EXPERIENCED, AND THEREFORE FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE, IS THAT WE CAN HAVE ALL THESE POSITIVE EXPERIENCES AND ASSOCIATED FOND MEMORIES, WITHOUT INVOLVING ALCOHOL, AT ALL.
https://notyourdoc.blog/2021/07/14/alcohol/
Charles Tadros, M.D.
August 1, 2022
Saint Louis, Missouri
To ASK for help
To GUIDE your help
To ACCEPT that help
To ACT with that help
With help, you ARE BETTER and DO BETTER for yourself, your family and your community.
Charles Tadros, M.D.
April 14, 2021
Saint Louis, Missouri
Avoiding battle does NOT mean:
devaluing extensive, multifaceted, coordinated military intelligence, or
naively believing that diplomacy is a tool to be used in isolation, or
underestimating the value of political will, or
undervaluing economic strength, or
underspending tax dollars on military equipment and personnel, or
being unprepared for physical conflict
Charles Tadros, M.D.
July 24, 2022
Saint Louis, Missouri
Apple’s Steve Jobs, during his bout with islet cell tumor (or gasteroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumor [GEP-NET]), despite his intelligence and his access to the best advice and care anywhere in the world, made poor choices ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4924574/#__ffn_sectitle ) which shortened his life.
As with Jobs, we have a right to irreversibly screw up our lives. This is one consequence of, even we’ll informed, autonomy.
However, Jobs made these choices, uncoerced, and as he had lived his life: forcing his will and his vision to achieve goals via what others had warned him were unwise choices during exceedingly difficult situations.
The question is how does such autonomy affect everyone else (family, friends, caregivers, neighbors, coworkers, citizens, the medical system, etc.), and how much of a burden does one person’s autonomy affect these other people (eg, Jobs used a scarce resource, an urgent liver transplantation, once it was found that his neoplasm had metastasized to that organ)?
We all have cognitive biases, fears, hopeful/magical thinking, and difficulties understanding all the nuances behind the statistics of applicable studies (let alone if these were well designed studies which produced useful results).
My hope is for us to work toward a definition of autonomy to mean: uncoerced (from external and internal sources), values-driven, well informed, evidence based personal choices and actions.
Charles Tadros, M.D.
July 14, 2022
Saint Louis, Missouri
Charles Tadros, M.D.
July 24, 2022
Saint Louis, Missouri
leave their pasts
distance themselves from their family
make different friends
experience new environments
improve their socioeconomic, educational, political, personal, and religious conditions
improve their mindsets
Charles Tadros, M.D.
July 6, 2022
Saint Louis, Missouri
People glean from the internet and social media what is put before them and what search engines give as the top search results.
With the internet of rapidly available information, anyone can rapidly check an official’s or a specialist’s word, work, current and previous statements, and with opinion blogs, obtain contrarian information and other viewpoints.
Scientists, physicians, educators, and politicians need to stop shying away from the (long-form) discussions and explanations of difficult concepts and difficult situations. Education has never been just in the classroom. During this pandemic, the entire world has become a classroom.
It is important for the rest of us to understand that, often, our leaders, and experienced specialists in all these different domains of knowledge, are: not sure, don’t know, misspeak, have insufficient information, and make wrong assumptions…all while learning by the hour, and modifying their statements as the pandemic rapidly evolves over the last 2.5 years.
Now, more than ever, scientists, educators, public officials, and media commentators need to explain their thinking, their sourcing of information, the implications and consequences of the stated information and stated policies, as well as how public officials, scientists, physicians and educators plan on adjusting policies and recommendations in the face of newer and better information.
Charles Tadros, M.D.
July 5, 2022
Saint Louis, Missouri
We wonder why people hold onto negativity… it’s because the unknown, the untested is much more anxiety-provoking, energy draining, and frightening than the known effects and costs of the negative self-image, and negative self talk.
Charles Tadros, M.D.
July 2, 2022
Saint Louis, Missouri