Saturday, March 22, 2008

Won't you be my neighbor?

In a comment to How Dinah Thinks, I noted "I'm starting to think that everyone is Dinah's neighbor," to which Dinah queried, "Who else is my neighbor?" Here's my count just from a quick search of our blogs for "Neighbor" (34 hits).

How Dinah Thinks
I liked that he starts by discussing the work of Debra Roter who studies doctor-patient communication patterns. Why? Because Debra is my friend and neighbor and it's always fun to stumble across someone I know on the pages of a book.


My Assorted Thoughts on Tara Parker-Pope's Wellness Blog Today
Not long ago she wrote about headaches and referenced my neighbor, the Johns Hopkins migraine king-- a man with beautiful gardens, a lovely wife, who run circles around our neighborhood for exercise, but my conversation with him has been limited to mutual nods.


The Shrink Next Door
That being said, I can't say that I've ever gone to my mechanic neighbor for car advice or to my hair stylist neighbor for coloring advice (although Dinah probably thinks I should) but that's not because I don't think they'd help me if I asked for it.


Is It Worth It?
She talks about the recommendations of David Bucholz, the Hopkins migraine Guru (and my neighbor...) -- avoidance of medications that can lead to rebound headaches and a diet devoid of...food (--I'm kidding of course, but apparently caffeine, pizza, beer, and chocolate--the foods Shrink Rappers love-- are out).


20 Random Facts (X 3 Co-Bloggers)
18. My husband is not a transvestite, which was called into question by our neighbors  [okay, not so specific with this one] when I published a novel that opened with a social worker stumbling upon her husband cross dressed.


Risky Business
I didn't know Dr. Fenton, I don't think I even knew of him, but I learned of his death at a Labor Day barbeque I hosted, from one of my neighbors who is also a schizophrenia researcher and who did know him.
Even if I don't wrestle with crocs for a living, the reality remains that people with psychosis can behave in unpredictable ways. As a child, I lived across the street from a neurologist. His office was across the hall from a psychiatrist and one day, a patient walked in and shot and killed the psychiatrist. Needless to say, my mother thought I should consider another career.


I can't believe that I must be so bored to be blogging about Dinah's neighbors. Maybe I'll do one on that new PTSD & genetics study, instead. Or maybe about the recent passing of one of Psychiatry's giants, Frank Ayd.  I know, I've also got the Ray DePaulo podcast to do, and work on "the book" (thank you for all your comments, thoughts, and ideas about our book, btw... we really appreciate the feedback). Dinah is always more than willing to help me keep my to do list filled (just think if we were married).

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, gosh, I forgot about the famous migraine guy. My neighborhood has a huge shrink population. When we moved in, folks across the street invited us for the Superbowl. We didn't know them at all and I said, "So, are you lawyers or psychiatrists?" They gave me a funny look and said, "Lawyers, why?"

We're not getting married, Roy. Oh my, what a thought. Would it work? Your personality isn't really that much different from my husband's...easy going, quiet, tolerant, flexible. He's not so restless and in search of activity (that's my job). Other than that, I think you can be the same person.

I'm on vacation, so I'm not to-do list nagging.

And you and ClinkShrink can be my neighbors any day.

Having fun in the Big Apple. We saw Gypsy.

Sarebear said...

Did you know that in the last few days, in honor of Mr. Rogers, it was Wear Your Favorite Sweater day, in honor of everything he did for children and everything?

so when I saw this post I thought there'd be something about that.

Odd coincidence. Anyway, wear your favorite sweater.

Rach said...

Hello from the otherside! Finally got back here to take a look at the blog... Once I'm home, I'll be spending a good many hours reading what y'all had to write over the last many weeks.

I'm also going to have a LOT of In Treatment to catch up on.

Bye from this side (where it's 100 degrees right now!)

~Rach

Anonymous said...

I recall quite a few of those neighbor comments (which I found a bit surprising myself) so it was an interesting summary. Like Dinah I have a hairdresser and an automechanic neighbor (married to each other so they are fixed for hairdos and car problems) plus a general practice lawyer and a 2nd attorney who flys all over the world fighting patent infringement cases, but to the best of my knowledge, not one world-famous or even an unknown shrink on my block.

Catherine said...

I am surrounded by rocket-scientists.

No, seriously.

Anonymous said...

Okay, Okay, so everyone is my neighbor. Roy, you can be my neighbor any day.

Proximity to Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, many other major hospital centers.

Location, location, location?

Roy said...

I did not know about Favorite Sweater Day, Sara (at least, not consciously).

Rach, have fun in the heat. Where are you?

Rocket scientists? Far out!