How to be mentally strong
I recently came across a book titled “13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do” by the American psychotherapist and mental strength trainer Amy Morin.The book provides the readers with tips on...
We need closure
A middle-aged man comes to the clinic and tells me about his frustration after a virtual friend with whom he was communicating daily blocked him following an argument, he describes feeling sad and...
Self-care is not being selfish
Recently, I attended a webinar about self-care and how to look after yourself while you are busy looking after others.The content was meant for people providing therapy such as psychologists,...
Do we need a career guide?
If your children are toward the end of their high school education, then you would probably struggle with them to select what major to study at college or university. In my case, the challenge was...
Should I stay or should I leave?
One of the things I love about my job as a psychiatrist is that I often meet intellectual patients who talk about books they read and in doing so motivates me to read them too and possibly discuss the...
Ditching the New Year resolution
Each year many people around the world busy themselves with preparing new year resolutions such as keeping fit, learning a new language, or being more organised at work even though very few people...
GreenMent S:04 E:02 - Marriage & Grief
What could be the impact of grief on a marriage?Find out more by joining us on GreenMent with our guest - Dr Hamed al Sinawi, Senior Psychiatrist.Title - How damaging can grief be?Season 4 Episode...
Learning resilience from Gaza
The current genocide in Gaza teaches the whole world about resilience as we see people digging out their loved ones from under the rubble with their bare hands and fighting for their lives trying to...
I have bad news for you
Last week I had to break bad news to a patient and tell her that her sad mood is not a result of her husband’s attitude but it is part of bipolar disorder.A long period of silence followed that...
Trust me, I am a doctor
The TV documentary “Bad Surgeon, Love under the Knife” tells the story of Dr Paolo Macchiarini, the Italian surgeon and researcher who was known for his regenerative experimental transplantation...
Can doctors and patients be FB friends?
A patient walked into my clinic for the first time, as I started introducing myself, she asks” how was your conference in Qatar? Did you like the mall you visited on Friday night? I paused for a...
How can we age well?
As an old-age psychiatrist working with people aged sixty and above, I often feel moved with the range of people coming to my clinic listening to their early life experiences and how it shaped their...
Do we need suicide enquires?
Suicide is a tragic event not only for the patient’s family but also for the healthcare professionals who are caring for him.After fajr prayers, the young man next to me shook my hand and whispered,...
Podcast- GreenMent S:04 E:01
On our first episode of Green Ment Season 4, with Dr Hamed al Sinawi, we look at anxiety and ask the question, ‘Is anxiety an illness and does it run in the families?How can we distinguish between...
Palestinian lives do matter
Last week I was teaching a group of medical students about medical ethics. I started by presenting the Islamic version of the Hippocratic Oath that doctors from around the world swear before starting...
Why we should all boycott
THE war in Gaza is changing everything in our lives even though we live miles away from the place of the real conflict we feel the pain of our brothers and sisters who are being slaughtered while the...
You have been canceled
Greta Thunberg, the twenty-year-old Swedish environmental activist known for her campaign for an immediate action for climate change tweeted last week “Today we strike in solidarity with Palestine...
War news and mental health
A colleague of mine says, "My wife constantly follows the news of the war in Gaza to the extent that she stays up late and never stops discussing what she sees in videos of destruction and killing....
Thriving in a changing world
The ancient saying “this too shall pass is believed to originate from the Persian Sufi poets who describe the temporary nature of the human coned and that neither the bad, nor good, moments in life...
You should talk to someone
The book titled “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone” by the American therapist Lori Gottlieb describes the personal and professional difficulties she experienced when her long-term partner broke up...