The Frontier Psychiatrists

I’m Owen. This week of posts is different from the usual…it’s a bit of an origin story for this newsletter, The Frontier Psychiatrists. It’s a daily health-themed newsletter by Imperfectionist physician Owen Scott Muir, M.D. There is a podcast (this), videos , a therapy training book , chapters in other therapy manuals , some poetry books , a live event in January , and even a brain-stimulation fi...

The Frontier Psychiatrists is a health-themed newsletter and podcast. It’s a little bit of a media empire; there is a YouTube channel, Instagram, TikTok, and music I do over on Spotify up top. This article is a bit of a meta-article on my journey, with historical audio as reference material. I’m Owen Scott Muir, M.D. , and I’m prolific, if nothing else. My first pass, as it were, at content creati...

The frontier psychiatrists is a Substack written by Owen Scott Muir, M.D.—a child and adult psychiatrist. This podcast is shared from the vaults…here is the story. I live in Brooklyn, New York. For those who remember 2020, we had a pandemic! I know, right? Ancient history! This is audio archeology. I did what I like to do to calm down to cope, which is I started recording stuff. That stuff became...

In the pandemic, I didn’t know what to do with myself. One of the things I did to make sense of my world falling apart was to make a podcast. I think the questions I asked at the time hold up well enough. This is the first episode I made, just about a week into lockdown in New York City. I recorded the audio on March 13th and released it on March 15th, 2020. Frankly, the worst thing about how we h...

This is an interview from 2015 with Samuel Sharmat, M.D., a brilliant diagnostician. It also was an interview that, in retrospect, helped define my options as a physician. He has a traumatic brain injury as a young child, it changed him. For him, the change unlocked new ways to notice what might be wrong with patients in ways that others could not. Please listen, and share with your friends. This...

I won a grant years back to produce a podcast series from NYU’s Rudin Master Scholars Program in Ethics and Humanities. I am proud of that work. This episode never made it on the air. It is presented for your consideration. Suicide is discussed, frankly. Both my friend and guest, Lara J. Cox, M.S., M.D, and I discussed extensively that her name should be used. That personal disclosure was the heal...

I won a grant years back to produce a podcast series from NYU’s Rudin Master Scholars Program in Ethics and Humanities. I am proud of that work. Here is one of the episodes that NYU “Doctor Radio” felt was a touch too edgy… I’d love to make more, but this production isn’t cheap! Thanks for listening, and share with your friends—a special thank you to Lancy Levy, R.N., my guest in this episode. Thi...

The Frontier Psychiatrists is a newsletter. It's written by one Psychiatrist, Owen Muir, M.D. It's a health-themed newsletter. It's also an exercise in imperfection. That imperfection is not an accident. Here is the story… An influential book in my life? It is not about medicine. The book is called Measure What Matters. It is by John Doerr; you can buy it on Amazon with that link! John writes abou...

Do you have any idea what mental health is? I wish I did. You have permission from me to be confused. I’m Owen Scott Muir, and I’m a Mental Health Professional. I should probably have an idea. I refer to the Frontier Psychiatrists Substack as a Health-themed newsletter for all the reasons I’m going to enumerate. Subscribe. We've been told mental health is important . It is. I don't know what the w...

This is an episode of the Frontier Psychiatrists Podcast. It’s a conversation between my Fermata team member, Chelsey, and Myself. This conversation is about us, at work, trying to understand neuroscience together. We recorded this one! An edited version of the transcript follows. Owen Muir, M.D.: So we were chatting about the amygdala, and if you want to ask me any questions about it, I can answe...

The Frontier Psychiatrist's newsletter? It is what you are reading. It’s a health-themed publication written by Owen Scott Muir, M.D. This is a brief detour from my recent series on medications, many of which have a critical slant. Those include Risperidone , Depakote , Geodon , Ambien , Prozac , Xanax , Klonopin , Lurasidone , Olanzapine , Zulranolone , Benzos , Caffeine , Semeglutide , Lamotrigi...

My favorite opening line of an academic article (this week) follows: Mental illnesses are prevalent, cause great suffering, and are burdensome to society. Welcome to the Frontier Psychiatrists. It’s a newsletter that I write all by myself. I’m doing a series on medications, largely (but not entirely) in psychiatry. I’m a child and adult psychiatrist, and I still see patients. I’ve also been a pati...

Angela Cappetta is a remarkably gifted photographer. I finally did a podcast, which is just a straight-up interview, and I hope you agree— worth the wait. Angela Cappetta’s work is viewable here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thefrontierpsychiatrists.substack.com/subscribe

This podcast was recorded over the course of the pandemic, and this is the very first episode. A lot of what I saw in real time ended up being prescient in retrospect. I went back and listened to it recently, and decided it was worth sharing with my readers and listeners. I hope you enjoy it, as a historical artifact at least. As a production note, all of it was recorded by me, edited by me, writt...

The Frontier Psychiatrists is a newsletter by noted medical content creator Owen Scott Muir, M.D. This series is on individual medicines. Data is presented and referenced, but it's a farewell to prescribing. I learned psychopharmacology, but it's not the focus of my career anymore. Other installments in this series include Klonopin , Lurasidone , Olanzapine , Zulranolone , Benzos , Caffeine , Seme...

This was the first podcast I ever made. I went on to get some grant funding and make some good ones, and now I make them myself, so they are not as good—perfect » Enemy of Done. Enjoy! A Programing Note… Of note, the newsletter continues to be largely free for new articles, but anything older than a month is auto-paywalled now. That is the setting I turned on to not have to think about. Access is...

It's a podcast of an article but with extra spice. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thefrontierpsychiatrists.substack.com/subscribe

Author’s Note: This writing was adapted from a series of conversations around race in America and edited as audio, recorded in 2020.   The podcast of this writing is the real thing, as it were.  What follows as text is edited to clarify the narrators, absent the audio.  Please consider following the podcast associated with this newsletter and leaving a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. P...

Welcome to the podcast edition of the frontier psychiatrists newsletter. Subscribers, We adore you. Owen Scott Muir loves podcasts as much as he loves newsletters. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thefrontierpsychiatrists.substack.com/subscribe

It is SO EASY…anyone can do it. Live your dreams. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thefrontierpsychiatrists.substack.com/subscribe

I know what you're thinking. It is very flattering to get THE Newsletter author Owen Muir, M.D. sending you, whoever you are , a text message. I always use the same format in those text messages. Everybody in senior leadership in medical devices uses the same format. I got a message just today from my colleague that I swear ripped off my format: The first thing to clear up: I like people to messag...

This is a newsletter. It is written by a psychiatrist. Not actually plural psychiatrists. I am a suicide expert, much to my chagrin. Today, I am reporting on the update I did see coming: A total of 49,449 Americans died by suicide in 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. This is a 2.6% increase from 48,183 in 2021 and the highest number ever recorded, according to pro...

The Frontier Psychiatrists is a newsletter written by Owen Scott Muir, M.D. Much of the continent is humorous or satirical, but this piece is not. It's straight-up explanatory. Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are related but distinct conditions. The point of this article isn't to go through every criterion in the DSM; it's to give people a s...

This episode is part of my self-soothing parody sub-substack about the lord of the rings related parody content. This one features the lord of the rings! Please Leave a Review! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thefrontierpsychiatrists.substack.com/subscribe

This is a parody podcast from the compliance/legal themed sub-newsletter, The Palantir of the Discoverable. It’s part of The Frontier Psychiatrists! Love The Lord of the Rings, but wish it had more legal and HR content? Problem solved. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thefrontierpsychiatrists.substack.com/subscrib...