10 | JANUARY 6 • 2022

PURELY COMMENTARY

the position of head chef in
the kitchen of a local high
school.
Jake and others taught me
not to give up on people too
early.
Joyce came to see me after
she had almost flunked out
of medical school. She was
distraught and discour-
aged. A careful evaluation
by myself and a colleague
showed symptoms consistent
with ADHD-inattentive type
and, once I started her on
stimulant medication, Joyce
was suddenly solidly in the
middle of her class. She is
now a successful doctor with
a better understanding of
herself and her patients.
There are so many other
patients whom I have
helped along the way with
symptoms of depression,
anxiety, ADHD and family
and school issues. But it’s
interesting that the ones who
most readily come to mind
are those with whom I strug-
gled at first, those whom I
saw as unreachable or stuck.

I learned that sometimes
I was truly the one who felt
stuck. And this taught me to
hear the voice in my head not
as a defeat, but as a sign that
I needed to take a step back
and try to reach the patient in
a different way, to slow down
and redefine our goals.
That doesn’t mean I was
always successful or help-
ful. But this reminded me
to sometimes question my
assumptions and to search for
an authentic encounter, to try
to meet people where they
were. While many people
may not have seemed ready
to work on their present-
ing issues, they needed first
to feel safe enough to risk
trusting another person to
help them look beneath the
surface.

A FINAL MEMORY
About 20 years into my
practice, I received a letter
from a former patient whom
I had seen when he was a
teenager. He told me in his
letter that he had seriously

contemplated taking his own
life at the time he was in my
care. He had even gone as far
as to obtain a gun. He had
never shared that with me at
the time, even though I had
asked him directly about any
suicidal thoughts or behav-
ior. He went on to say that
his relationship with me and
his therapist had been vital
in helping him choose to
keep living. He subsequently
went to college and was now
working in the mental health
field in another state. He
wrote that he had wanted to
encourage me by letting me
know that I had made a dif-
ference for him and, he was
certain, for others, in case I
sometimes felt unsure. I still
have his letter.
The thought that one never
knows the effect you might
have in each encounter has
helped me through the ups
and downs of 40 years of
practice. It was also a won-
derful life lesson.
As we all struggle to deal
with COVID and the after-

math of the school violence
in Oxford and elsewhere,
we search for hope and the
strength to carry on. As I
look back on my practice, I
realize that a subtle shift in
thinking can often be the
source of that hope. It must
be tied to a valid reason to
believe in ourselves, often
borne of finding our hidden
strengths and supports, which
can lead to finding the cour-
age to accept our problems
and face our fears.
I have tried to be part of
the village. I have tried to
find the goodness in others
and myself. And when all else
fails, I think back to Dorothy
from the Wizard of Oz. It
turns out we mostly have
the ability to get ourselves
back to Kansas. We may
think we need a balloon ride
with a wizard. But we often
just need a connection with
another person to find our
own way back home.



Dr. Jeff London is a retired child

psychiatrist from Farmington Hills.

40 YEARS OF PSYCHIATRY continued from page 9

The Iranians will be able to
secretly move ahead with
their nuclear program, which
will bring them closer to
nuclear breakout capability.
Israel has the ability to
attack Iran and will soon
have no other choice because
the proverbial sword is
almost at its neck. It appears
that the critical moment is
fast approaching. We cannot
rely on American military
intervention, which most
likely will not come. When

Israel has faced significant
strategic threats in the past
and taken the initiative, the
Israel Defense Forces has
emerged victorious.
The preparations cur-
rently underway are meant
to improve the IDF’s attack
capabilities and finalize a
better plan of action. The
IDF must receive a clear
directive from the Israeli
government, which defines
the objective: devastating
damage to Iran’s nuclear

program; and the target date:
fall of 2022. Despite the diffi-
culties, it seems the time has
come for the IDF to prepare
a strike plan in conjunction
with the country’s intelli-
gence services.
At the same time, Israel
must prepare for an Iranian
response from its soil, and
via Hezbollah as well. There
is no reason for panic —
talk of war with Iran is
overblown. Israel has been
fighting Iran for over two

decades, and the IDF has
the ability to continue cop-
ing with the Iranian threat
and hitting Hezbollah hard.
Beyond the operational
preparations, Israel needs to
prepare a diplomatic plan to
legitimize a military strike
and soften the international
reaction.

Vice Adm. (ret.) Eliezer Marom

served as commander of the Israeli

Navy from 2007–2011. This article

first appeared in Israel Hayom.

ISRAEL IS FAST APPROACHING continued from page 4