Self-Care, the Right Way | Pooja Lakshmin, MD

The wellness industry saturates our cultural consciousness, with juice cleanses, organic skincare, and spa retreats flooding our social media feeds. But what does this plethora of dazzling — and often-expensive — lifestyle products all amount to? Not much, argues Pooja Lakshmin, MD, a psychiatrist who specializes in women's mental health and clinical assistant professor at George Washington University School of Medicine. As she writes, "our understanding of self-care and wellness is incomplete at best and manipulative at worst. We cannot meditate our way out of a 40 hour workweek without childcare. These wellness products keep us looking outward, comparing ourselves with others or striving for perfection." She details her ideas for achieving true wellness in her recently released book, Real Self-Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness. In this episode, Dr. Lakshmin joins us to discuss how she overcame her own struggles working in medicine and details practical strategies for real self-care, which, in her words, "isn't a thing to do or buy, but a way to be." In this episode, you will hear about:How Dr. Lakshmin’s rocky initial foray into medicine led her a career in psychiatry - 2:15Dr. Lakshmin’s disillusionment with medicine, her two years away from the profession, and what she learned from immersing herself in the wellness industry - 5:34Reflections on the state of the wellness industry - 10:42An overview of Dr. Lakshmin’s book Real Self-Care and what real self-care looks like - 15:52A deeper dive into the first principle of real self-care: boundary setting - 18:47A discussion of how the American healthcare system often exploits doctors and nurses - 24:25The second principle of real self-care: self-compassion - 32:08The third principle of real self-care: knowing your values - 38:44The fourth principle of real self-care: empower oneself to create change - 45:09Dr. Lakshmin’s advice on getting control of your self-care journey - 50:43In this episode, we discussed the essay The Business of Healthcare Depends on Exploiting Doctors and Nurses by Dr. Danielle Ofri, published in the New York Times.We also discussed Dr. Lakshmin’s article How Society Turned its Back on Mothers, published in the New York Times.Dr. Pooja Lakshmin is the founder and CEO of GEMMA, a women’s mental healthcare education community focused on impact and equity.You can follow Dr. Pooja Lakshmin on Twitter @PoojaLakshmin.Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to [email protected] The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2023