A physician who treats depressed, anxious, and suicidal teens

"After almost 30 years in this profession, I have come to the conclusion that there is some truth to that, as no day or week passes that I do not have a depressed, anxious or suicidal teen on my 'to see list.' Could it be my own personal history of depression and suicidal ideation? Could it be my own history of being bullied as a young child? My insecurities as a teenager? My personal history of sexual assault as a young, bright-eyed medical student? Or my own history of private pain and suffering? We may never know. But one thing is for sure I do want my patients, my teens, and tweens to stop hurting. And I plan on doing something about it. One patient's mother thinks I have a 'healing spirit.' That is why they come to me. I say: I hear the call and am ready to be sent."

Uchenna Umeh is a pediatrician and can be reached at Teen Alive (https://www.teenalive.com/) and on Facebook and YouTube.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "A pediatrician's healing spirit: treating depressed, anxious, and suicidal teens." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2018/07/a-pediatricians-healing-spirit-treating-depressed-anxious-and-suicidal-teens.html)