David Handley, M.D.

02/25/2022

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network has a fact sheet that parents may find helpful when talking to their children about the invasion of Ukraine.

https://www.nctsn.org/resources/talking-to-children-about-war?fbclid=IwAR3LdWKTd-JjCjt8ccmG8LmLef135CHm00k0MYztcZhIlVzsW_f8BE7iPPc

Offers information for caregivers on how to talk to children about war. This fact sheet includes the potential impact and considerations when talking to children about war, how to start the conversation, understanding media coverage, and how to foster resilience.

12/02/2021

Mass General (Harvard Medical School) is enrolling patients with OCD--any gender, 18 and over--in a new study to evaluate digital (app and web-based) treatment interventions. Click the link below or specific study details can be found here: https://rally.partners.org/study/ocddigitalhealth

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) affects approximately 1% of adults in the general population and may cause significant distress and disability. For reasons we do not fully understand, women appear to be particularly vulnerable to OCD -- either new onset or exacerbation of symptoms -- during preg...

01/04/2021

For many years I've recommended the Headspace app to patients interested in starting a mindfulness practice. Now they have a Netflix docuseries. Has anyone watched this yet?

Headspace takes a friendly, animated look at the benefits of meditation while offering techniques and guided meditations to jump-start your practice.

11/11/2020

In case anyone needs a refresher on good sleep hygiene...

Experts reveal which bedtime habits to avoid if you want to feel rested in the morning.

10/09/2020

Don't forget your flu shot! Now is the perfect time of year to get this done. More than 3500 Coloradans were hospitalized with flu during the last flu season.

This year it’s extra important to get the flu vaccine to protect against influenza, a serious disease. See how to get vaccinated.

05/27/2020

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/01/the-new-theatrics-of-remote-therapy?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Magazine_060120&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&bxid=5be9d6f124c17c6adf3eca8c&cndid=43172669&hasha=82c884ddb7f0820758e8d523353703db&hashb=7c6ec2e8c57a15c5aba2a244da7a9559f7e5d2d0&hashc=34b3a957686ca43f3c558d63c34efa44329c9c59fbe5f75f24cb957f34f93880&esrc=auto_auth_de&utm_term=TNY_Magazine

This story is about more than remote therapy--which is harder to do but probably here to stay. The article ends with a great quotation from Freud writing about loss, not long after the death of his daughter during the Spanish flu pandemic:

“We know that the acute sorrow we feel after such a loss will run its course, but also that we will remain inconsolable, and will never find a substitute. No matter what may come to take its place, even should it fill that place completely, it remains something else. And that is how it should be. It is the only way of perpetuating a love that we do not want to abandon.”

How does treatment change when your patients are on a screen?

01/31/2020

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/calling-an-illness-psychosomatic-doesnt-mean-its-imaginary/?WT.mc_id=send-to-friend

Fascinating research from University of Pittsburg using rabies virus as a neuronal tracer to suggest additional cortical inputs to the adrenals.

Recent experiments have begun mapping the neuronal connections between mind and body like never before

11/12/2019

I've been in my current office in the historic Twitchell building for well over a year and just now getting around to putting the shingle out. Finally crossed off my list!

11/11/2019

Chaffee County NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) is hosting a mental health crisis planning workshop on Thursday, 11/21/19. See flyer for details on how to register.

11/06/2019

Check out this study from The British Medical Journal. While the findings may seem intuitive and only reinforce what your grandmother told--you really can worry yourself to death--the correlations in this study add to the growing body of evidence on the impact stress has on inflammation and immune functioning.

Objective To assess whether severe psychiatric reactions to trauma and other adversities are associated with subsequent risk of life threatening infections. Design Population and sibling matched cohort study. Setting Swedish population. Participants 144 919 individuals with stress related disorder...