profile

Welcome to Brain Bites with Dr. B!

Brain Bites is all about broadening your reach with easy-to-digest psych knowledge! Join me for quick, interesting medication and brain science tidbits! Elevate your therapy practice with insight and data from your friendly online psychiatrist!

Dr. B Jessica Beachkofsky talks about interoception, trauma, and the DMN
Featured Post

Giving you (and me) a break!

This holiday season feels weird to me. I've been trying to figure out why, but I'm still not really sure! A lot of people may feel bad at a certain time, or in a certain place, and not really know what's going on. In some cases, it's due to the process of interoception which is one of my very favorite concepts to explain to patients!! This is where the body is taking in all the data it gets from the environment outside AND internally and then decides what to do next. In the context of this...

Dr. B Jessica Beachkofsky MD wonders about the safety of supplements

A gorgeous Charlize Theron is walking through the water along a sandy beach wearing a gauzy, sequined dress wrap thing. It's very sexy. There are almost no words spoken. J'adore by Dior.... sigh. Years ago (this was a tv ad from 2016!!) I asked for perfume for Christmas. Which was silly of me because I was in the military and worked in a hospital ward. NO perfume allowed! And with 2 tiny monsters at home it's not like we were going out anywhere that sweatpants or my camouflage uniform wasn't...

Dr. B Jessica Beachkofsky talks about confusion over perimenopause symptoms vs normal aging

What do brain fog, leaking pee, broken bones, and irritability have in common? Perimenopause! Whether you have/had a uterus and are somewhere between 30 and 60, or you have a client or know a person meeting those requirements, this video is for you! (Psst. There's no way you get out of this one!) Every single woman that makes it to 55+ will go through menopause and at least 75% of those people will have at least one annoying (or awful) symptom of perimenopause. And those symptoms may start as...

Jessica Beachkofsky Dr. B explaining the developing brain changes in schizophrenia

It’s dark out. Tonight’s therapy appointment took me past neighborhoods that had twinkle lights all wrapped around their entrance signs. When I peer up at the windows of those mega apartment buildings, I see sparkling Christmas trees inside and decked out balconies (even the potted palms!). The only thing missing is snow! Which it won’t. (Thank goodness) And each week that I drive this same fairly benign stretch, it will continue to get more and more interesting as giant Santas and light up...

Jessica Beachkofsky Dr. B explaining what medication are safe to take for mental health conditions in pregnancy

The crisp cool air The smell of a wood fire The sounds of nature The feel of sticky burnt marshmallow on everything I touch I'm talking about camping! I love to camp. This is my jam. We’ve been camping as a family for ages (or about 5 years) and I keep really good notes of what we wished we had (or don't want to lug with us next time). That way each trip is just a little better, a little more prepared, a little more perfect for our Beachkofsky camp style. But not everyone has the time or the...

Dr Beachkofsky looking at her watch because it might be time for medications

It's tough, right? Your clients are already dealing with so much and really trying hard in therapy with you. So why aren't they getting better? Is it you? Nope. Is it them? I mean, yes, but not because they aren't doing the work! Sometimes people just need a little something extra to give them the boost they need to maximize therapy with you! I think you know where I'm going with this.... It's meds!! Yes, I know your client came to you because they wanted therapy and not medications. Or maybe...

what does Dr. Beachkofsky have to say about medical cannabis CBD THC

I just changed my music playlist to the one that’s all my music PLUS all my holiday music! 11/1 is a big deal for me. The winter holiday season is here! Which is hilarious and feels kind of stupid because I’m in Florida and today’s high will be 85 (just like all last week and all next week) And maybe that’s why I embrace it so hard? But I like it, so I’m not trying to get to the root of this and change. No way. And my family just takes it as one of my quirks. I have holiday print batik...

Is social media addictive? Dr. B and the world want to know

Circle circle dot dot now i got my cooties shot My kids think it’s hilarious that we used to get “cooties shots”. Yeah, yeah, I’m old and used to play with dirt and sticks. Didn't we all? I didn’t have a fancy phone or tablet like many kids have access to now, and maybe you didn't either. I mean, kids also don’t have to deal with Encyclopedia Britanica or the Dewey decimal system! (thanks, Google) But they're missing out on the smell of books. And they don’t have to color everything brown and...

Dr B with the cure for boredom at work

I used to play the piano. I started lessons when I was like 4 and it became a “requirement” when my parents realized I was pretty good at it. It started off fun! And then it wasn’t. I hated practicing. I hated lessons. I only wanted to play when no one was home and I could just bang away with a thunderstorm or cry my messy high school breakup emotions away with a slow, sad Chopin. We have a beautiful piano from my husband’s childhood home that looks nice in our house but no one plays it....

Dr B excited about raising your HRV and for clients too!

I'm not a huge fan of math in general. Which is probably kind of a dumb thing to say. Like, "I'm not a fan of underwear." Which may be true for some (ew? or yeah!) but undies are pretty ubiquitous and make sense in lots of situations! But the kind of math I'm talking about today isn't the computational kind. It's neurofeedback!! I have recently purchased a sensor and app from HeartMath where I can practice working on my HRV or heart rate variability. Sounds super fun, right? not this kind of...