In the mental health epidemic we face as humans, we all need to find ways to prioritize self care and mental fitness. This week we sit down with psychiatrist Dr. Jessi Gold for a conversation covering the intricacies of mental health and how you can take small steps to optimizing your own.
She shares her story of getting into the field of psychiatry: struggling in college and getting inspired to make an impact on the world. She discusses the importance of being there for our loved ones, that oftentimes there’s pain hiding behind the “I’m Fine’s” and we have a responsibility as friends to go deeper.
She speaks openly about SSRIs, taking the pressure off of self care, and how we can create a mental fitness revolution from the inside out.
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0:00 Intro
3:30 Getting Interested in College Mental Health
6:28 Going Deeper than “I’m Fine”
8:48 Asking the Right Questions
15:23 Writing “How Do You Feel” & Facing the Mental Health Epidemic
22:27 Self Care & Choosing Yourself
29:37 Disclosing SSRI Usage
35:25 The Mental Fitness Revolution
42:14 Mental Health Role Models
46:40 Being the Daughter of Mark Gold, MD
53:13 Conclusion
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Dr. Jessi Gold is the inaugural Chief Wellness Officer for the University of Tennessee (UT) System and an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC). Dr. Gold works clinically as an outpatient psychiatrist and focuses her work on students, faculty, and healthcare workers.
She has spoken at major national and international meetings across diverse settings, from academic institutions to hospital systems to the entertainment industry. She has written research and academic publications in JAMA, the American Journal of Psychiatry, and elsewhere and has been identified by Becker’s Hospital Review as one of the ‘Top 14 Chief Wellness Officers to Get to Know | 2024′.
She may be best known, however, for her general audience original publications that teach about mental health topics and decrease stigma that can be found in, among others, the Washington Post, New York Times, Forbes, SELF, and InStyle, as well as her expert media appearances in print, television, radio, and podcasts, and her large social media presence.
She is also working on a book. HOW DO YOU FEEL?: One Doctor’s Search for Humanity in Medicine, with Simon Element due in October 2024.
Dr. Gold is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a B.A. and M.S. in Anthropology, in addition to being a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and Phi Beta Kappa. She also completed her medical degree at the Yale School of Medicine and her residency training in Adult Psychiatry at Stanford University, where she served as chief resident from 2017-2018. She has received numerous awards and accolades for her contributions in mental health and psychiatry, including the Dean’s Impact Award for her work during the COVID-19 pandemic in her previous hospital system, Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine.
Website: https://www.drjessigold.com/
Book: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1982199776?tag=simonsayscom
