Listening to Our Own: How Physician Stories Inform Better Care

By Office of the President | Jan 20, 2026

Congratulations to Michael F. Myers, M.D., Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, on the publication of his new book, Physicians With Lived Experience: How Their Stories Offer Clinical Guidance, released by American Psychiatric Association Publishing.

The book draws on Dr. Myers’ decades-long career as a psychiatrist focused on physicians’ mental health, well-being, and professionalism. He is recognized for his work on the emotional lives of physicians and medical learners. Dr. Myers has spent much of his career addressing issues such as depression, suicide prevention, stigma, and the cultural barriers that discourage clinicians from seeking care.

In this latest volume, Dr. Myers pulls together a series of candid, first-person accounts from physicians and medical students who have navigated their own mental health challenges. These narratives move beyond an outdated “us versus them” mindset and challenge the assumption that clinicians must be invulnerable. The book highlights courage, resilience, and self-compassion while offering practical clinical insights, labeled “clinical pearls,” applicable across specialties and care settings.

Physicians With Lived Experience builds on Dr. Myers’s longstanding body of work, which includes influential books such as Doctors’ Marriages and The Physician as Patient. His scholarship has helped shape national conversations about physician well-being. It has been widely used in medical education and institutional efforts to support clinicians throughout their careers. Click here for an extended list of Dr. Myers’s titles.

At a time when physician well-being is a critical concern across the healthcare system, this book is timely and meaningful. By centering physicians’ own voices, it helps reduce stigma within the profession, fosters professional humility and experiential empathy, and ultimately strengthens the way we care for our patients and for each other.

Congratulations to Dr. Myers on this significant achievement.

For more information on the book, visit American Psychiatric Association Publishing.