David M. Allen, M.D.

David M. Allen, M.D. This page critiques psychiatry and psychotherapy, with an emphasis on the role of family dysfunction in mental health.

10/30/2025

Reading from top to bottom reflects self-doubt
Reading bottom to top reflects self-worth
Consider it a small reminder that even in moments of doubt, we have the capacity to see our own value:

I AM AN IMPOSTER

And don’t try and convince me that
I deserve to be here
Because when you take a closer look
The workplace is pretty competitive
Even if
People say I’m the right fit
I will be discovered as a fraud
And it’s not true
That I am enough
Because
Success can be attained
Only if I work twice as hard or get lucky
It’s not true that my value exists
I’m sure you can agree that
The reality creates my outlook
I don’t belong
And you’ll never in a million years hear me say

I AM WORTHY

~ Mary Remón, LCPC, CPC CEAP https://www.facebook.com/share/1B3u8wJfCt/?mibextid=wwXIfr

o Coaching for leaders, physicians and professionals.

10/23/2025

To say "my mental disorder causes me to do X" is like saying "my symptoms cause my symptoms."

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10/14/2025

Traffic laws slow us down and interfere with our inalienable rights to drive however we like, and I haven't seen ANY randomized controlled trials to prove that they save lives.

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09/30/2025

Telling a kid firmly to “knock it off” when they are misbehaving is telling a kid to figure out what was wrong with their conduct and desist. It tells them: you’re a smart kid; figure what else to do yourself. You’re smart enough, and you can. ~ Abigail Shrier

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09/23/2025

A research letter published in JAMA Pediatrics says that “about one-quarter of children in the United States may be living in a household where one or more parents have a substance use disorder.” They found that “nearly 19 million children lived with a parent who met DSM-5 criteria for past-year SUD. Of this total, around 11.3 million children had a parent with mild SUD, while 7.6 million had a parent with moderate to severe SUD.”

-V

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09/16/2025

The face of attachment figures helps configure a baby’s brain, and retains its power into adulthood (there are tracks of neurons in the amygdala that respond only to a mother's face, and nothing else). Babies are nearsighted and focus primarily on objects between 8 and 10 inches from their faces. That’s about the distance of a baby’s face to a person who may be holding them.

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09/09/2025

Heard from a woman saying to her husband as she’s walking out of room where she just had an ultrasound: “I’ve finally found my inner child.”

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09/02/2025

I had one patient who justified never trying to change a bad situation with three different proverbs: "the grass is always greener on the other side," "the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know," and "you've made your bed so now you have to lie in it." All three slogans had been repeated to her ad nauseam by her parents when she was growing up.

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08/26/2025

Even very small children are sensitive barometers of their parents emotional states; they know when their parents are overburdened with anxiety, guilt and mistrust. Moreover, they want to do something about it.

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Self Help book by Dr. Allen

My self-help book, Coping with Critical, Demanding, and Dysfunctional Parents: Powerful Strategies to Help Adult Children Maintain Boundaries and Stay Sane available online at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and https://www.newharbinger.com/coping-critical-demanding-and-dysfunctional-parents