Hippie Docs 2.0: Re-Humanizing Medicine Hippie Docs 2.0

Dr. Claire Unis is a writer, pediatrician and mom living and working in Auburn, California. The author of the recent memoir Balance Pedal Breathe: A Journey Through Medical School, Claire embraces and blends both facets of herself, and uses her passions and skills as a pediatrician, memoirist and practitioner of narrative medicine in concert, to work with her young patients and forge a new path for herself and her colleagues. There is a huge overlap with writing and medicine, involving the power of observation; not to mention the need for doctors to engage in other activities to remain sane and healthy. Claire finds this union of disciplines particularly helpful and satisfying with adolescents, as well as helping healthcare workers process tragedy and trauma. Join Paul and Claire for a fertile conversation about the power of journaling for both patient and doctor and how regular emotional check-ins can create a path forward for patient treatment and healing the healer.

Medicine is more of a team sport than we might like to admit, and yet the romance of one-on-one care glorified in TV shows like Marcus Welby, M.D. continue to be mythologized. Airing from 1969-1976, the show starred Robert Young as the title character, a family practitioner with a kind bedside manner, who was on a first-name basis with many of his patients (and who also made house calls). 


There have been tectonic shifts in medicine both in terms of treatments and the delivery of care since the 1970’s and our balkanized healthcare system was struggling before Covid. In the last 30-40 years, the escalating costs and dizzying systemic gyrations—from HMOs structures to the ACA overhaul—have left many patients confused, underserved and overcharged. Despite heroic efforts from practitioners there will most certainly be lasting structural and care delivery effects from the pandemic, so it is a good time to take a look at this pivotal role in our healthcare system. Primary Care Medicine is supposed to serve as the patient's entry point into the health care system and as the continuing focal point for all needed health care services. A primary care physician is a specialist in family medicine, general internal medicine or general pediatrics who provides patient care and takes continuing responsibility for providing the patient's comprehensive care. Healthcare delivery and structure is ever morphing in our for profit system, and we are once again seeing a big shift. Join Paul for a lively conversation with Dr. John Mendelson, an addiction researcher and physician, startup co-founder and primary care physician for more than 30 years. John recently gave up his primary care practice, but has tremendous insight into the past, present and future of Primary Care Medicine.

Jeb Berkeley, PhD is a clinical psychologist in San Francisco whose practice focuses on the treatment of the symptoms of anxiety and depression expressed in the realms of love, family, partnership, loss, addiction, work, health, uncertainty and pleasure. With 40 years of experience, Dr. Berkeley shares mental health insights into the challenges and opportunities the global pandemic has created during the last two years. With therapists sharing the trauma with patients, and unable to provide a physically ‘safe’ environment for therapy, most counseling went online. He says he recently heard a comedian say “doing therapy on zoom is like sex with a condom; it’s safe but you lose something.” And yet, as a person who self describes as someone ‘who runs hopeful,’ he found a number of positives in his practice during this difficult era. The unique global experience of uncertainty, created immeasurable stress and suffering for so many, but despite a trend of Covid divorces, Jeb says he witnessed some surprising unexpected areas of growth for patients and therapists. Join Paul for a revealing conversation about how this crisis has upended, transformed and changed the course of therapy, while stimulating both profound suffering and remarkable resilience in so many. The covid chronicles are far from over, but it is enlightening to investigate the odyssey of our times, and the implications for health and wellbeing, all with a warm sense of optimism and humor.

Created and hosted by a seasoned San Francisco psychiatrist and author, Paul R. Linde, MD, the trailblazing podcast "Hippie Docs 2.0: Re-Humanizing Medicine” seeks to examine the good work that’s already happening in medicine while simultaneously exploring ways to re-imagine our healthcare system. Many of our episodes discuss the power of progressive medicine and how a return to a more mindful and heart-based medical practice makes for a more humane and effective model. We look closely at how master clinicians make connections with their patients in our current era of the doctor-patient relationship under siege.


 Hippie Docs investigates a wide variety of topics — from healthcare inequalities to pioneering treatments such as the use of psychedelics for PTSD and depression, advances in healthcare education, the unintended effects of electronic medical records, the crisis in nursing, homeless healthcare, human rights medicine, and surf therapy for combat veterans. Join Paul and the Hippie Docs team for an enlightening deep dive into the immediate realities of our current healthcare crisis, including its systemic challenges, all the while asking this question of the listener: "What part can you play in re-humanizing medicine?

There has been a renaissance of interest in the boundary-pushing, consciousness-altering medications for alleviation of suffering in psychiatric patients. Bipartisan in nature, and with a growing public interest from politicians and donors, this movement is spurred by a cultural shift away from the War on Drugs. Mainstream explorations and writings by the likes of Michael Pollan have raised public awareness of how psychedelics may work in treating Depression, Anxiety, and PTSD. Medicines such as ketamine, MDMA and psilocybin work in the brain by inducing neuroplasticity, lighting up the brain in a sense. This process can help patients confront deeply rooted traumas and modify their maladaptive reactions and responses in a variety of life situations. These groundbreaking treatments are provided in conjunction with psychotherapy and take place in calm and therapeutic settings, contrasting with the recreational use of these substances. Join Paul and Dr. Guo for a deep dive into this creative therapy -- an innovative tool and much in demand given the mental health crisis exacerbated by Covid.

The ravages and toll of the Covid pandemic with its associated breakdown in civility, complicated by a flawed pipeline in Nursing education, define the current challenges facing our beleaguered Nursing workforce in the U.S. An insufficient investment of both time and money, a misplaced hero worship, disinformation, and an unrealistic expectation for sustained effort in the face of perpetual tragedy contribute to a slow but steady erosion of the foundation of Nursing. Dr. Sharon Goldfarb knows this all too well. Ranging from her early days working via an outreach van with a group of HIV-positive substance-using people in Harlem to her distinguished career as an educator to her clinical and administrative field work with the unhoused to her current role as a vocal advocate for the national pandemic response, Goldfarb has witnessed the arc of change in the world of Nursing. She continues to work tirelessly to ensure the sustainability and future of the vocation from all these vantage points. Join Paul for a rousing discussion on the state of Nursing in 2021 and the implications for this vital and essential part of our nation's health care system.