When I started my psychiatry career in the Navy in the mid-1990’s, I was advised to always tread carefully with patients on three topics: sex, religion, and politics. Twenty-five years later, I find that talking about sex and religion is not so challenging, but politics is a different story.

I attended my first virtual national psychiatric conference and by far my favorite session was called Me2/Classical Music for Mental Health. The session started out with about 12 musicians who were all string players. This was not an ordinary orchestra; in fact, it was quite extraordinary because about half the musicians live with the diagnoses of Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, depression, anxiety or addiction. We all know the power of music to heal for the listeners but it is also healing for the people playing too.

As we enter the sixth month of this pandemic, it’s pretty clear that we’ve all been affected on some level by the quarantine and social distancing.

When it comes to this topic, a part of me is afraid to speak, for fear of saying the wrong thing. My sense is that most people will assume this article does not apply to them, and they would rather not explore the topic too deeply within themselves as it’s uncomfortable. And yet, I really want to share what I hope is a healing message.

Are you wondering how you are going to make it emotionally through this pandemic? In this current article, I will use a case study to illustrate how you can shift negative feelings into positive ones by using a visual “emotional map”.

Even though we’re still in Spring, the year 2020 is already an eventful one—the COVID-19 pandemic, the Senate impeachment trial of the President, and probably a few other surprises. Another “event” that mirrors these headline events is one that is less visible—our feelings about these events, and the potential to feel overwhelmed by them.

In my article from last month, I talked about how the opioid epidemic was 20 years in the making due to opioids being overprescribed during that time period. It turns out the sugar epidemic has been 40 plus years in the making.

19th century philosopher, Karl Marx once said “religion is the opium of the masses” but one could also make the case in the 21st century America that “opium is now the religion of the masses.”