My Psychiatric Quest

We got an unexpected phone call over the weekend. FJ, a psychiatrist and his psychologist wife were in town for a major conference. They collected Lui's painting years ago. One painting was slightly damaged in the hand of the framer. They flew Lui in to Washington DC to do the repair. I tagged along. We were guests for a couple of days in their beautiful red-brick house full of arts and style. Nothing says more about their style when they waved from their beat-down Honda Civic for a velvet parking outside a fancy restaurant they took us to.

We kept in touch as friends until the last time we reported to them of Sienna's arrival. Life was all of sudden drastically different afterwards... This time they tracked us down on the internet and found our phone number. Still we didn't get to see them. I am eager to get a hold of their presentation at the conference. The title is "Crash:... ... " It's about the mental health issues in multicultural environments. I just happened to watch a DVD version of the best Oscar winning movie "Crash" and have something to say about it.

FJ is not just a talking psychiatrist. He actually prescribes pills, vitamins and Prozac alike to patients. After the much published celebrity showdown between Brooke Shields and Tom Cruise over pills of such kind and after talking to some friends who used to suffer clinical depression, I've become very interested in the field. I am not fond of the way Tom Cruise expresses his views; but I am almost with him so far. I just want to know more. Who could be a better person to talk to than a long time psychiatrist friend?! Is the mental imbalance or human depression a mental situation or physical situation? What gives you a valid reason to start prescribing drugs? Will the balancing effect of the drugs diminish one's mental ability to cope with one's life? How do you deal with patient's drug dependency? ... ... My list of questions goes on and on.