When Diabetes Meets Depression - Lessons from the Bronx with Dr. Alyson Myers

What happens when you treat diabetes without addressing depression? Or prescribe insulin to a patient with no refrigerator? Dr. Alyson Myers has spent her career answering questions like these — and her answers challenge how most clinicians were trained to think.Triple board-certified in internal medicine, psychiatry, and endocrinology, Dr. Myers practices in the Bronx, where the gap between clinical guidelines and patients' lived reality is impossible to ignore. In this conversation, she breaks down the bidirectional relationship between metabolic and mental health, reframes what "non-compliant" actually means, and shares how a five-year chart review revealing a 44% amputation rate led her to co-found a multidisciplinary limb preservation clinic.This is whole-patient care in practice — not as a concept, but as a necessity.In this episode:Why treating diabetes without addressing mental health guarantees worse outcomes for bothThe real meaning of "non-compliant" in underserved communitiesHow inaction violates the oath to do no harmA data-driven response to a 44% amputation rate in the BronxThe cost of diabetic foot ulcers to patients, families, and the healthcare systemWhat telehealth rollbacks mean for urban populationsHow Dr. Myers protects her own mental health while carrying the weight of this work⏱ Chapters 0:00 Introduction 1:01 Why diabetes became personal — and professional 3:20 Listening as a clinical tool 4:27 The whole-patient model: why silos fail 5:38 Food insecurity and glycemic control 6:49 No refrigerator? Getting creative with insulin storage 8:02 Reframing "do no harm" — inaction is harm too 8:47 Diabetes and depression: the bidirectional relationship 12:39 Med-psych training and what most physicians are missing 14:02 Women's health, menopause, and the data gaps 15:05 Social drivers of health and what "non-compliant" really means 17:48 Telehealth rollbacks and the CMS policy gap 18:28 Health equity, DEIB, and the Albert Einstein legacy 20:55 A 44% amputation rate and the clinic built to change it 23:50 The true cost of diabetic foot ulcers 26:06 Physician wellness: how Dr. Myers stays grounded 28:36 Reasons for hope 32:26 Connect with Dr. Myers🔗 Hear more insightful interviews :🌐 tntopenmind.org 📸 Follow Dr. Myers on Instagram: @dr.savalimbTags: diabetes and mental health, health equity, behavioral health, integrated care, diabetic foot ulcer, limb preservation, Bronx healthcare, health disparities, endocrinology, diabetes depression, social determinants of health, whole patient care, telehealth policy, physician wellness, TNT Open Mind Insights, healthcare leadership, diabetes care, underserved communities, non-compliant patients, biopsychosocial model Subscribe to TNT Open Mind Insights - Mental Health Interview Series on Soundwise