I’m afraid I’m going crazy

Short answers to common questions

This is a really common worry. I know that because I’m a psychiatrist. And when this world gets bad enough, it’s often the case that you end up in the office of somebody like me. And then, maybe for the first time, maybe not for the first time, you ask me, “what if I’m going crazy?”

To both provide reassurance to people who are suffering, and both eliminate and possibly generate business for myself in a way, I will explain shortly, I provide the following service.

The following is not medical advice, but it’s what I would answer most of the time:

“That’s not a big deal around here.”

Do you see what I did there? I didn’t say you were or were not going crazy.

Now, given you’re just reading this column, and I may or may not have ever met you—This is a pretty safe thing to say…because I do not know.

I am a dual board-certified child and adult psychiatrist. I have over 75,000 hours of clinical experience. I’ve seen what ever going crazy might look like, and it is my literal medical specialty t…