Year 2: The Psychiatry Resource 2021 Year-End Review

Image: Life by Len Lantz (CC BY-NC-ND)

 

Synopsis: 2021 was the second year of The Psychiatry Resource. This article provides a recap of the highs and lows. It shows what things stayed the same, which areas required change, and where priorities shifted at PsychiatryResource.com.

BY LEN LANTZ, MD, author of unJoy / 12.31.21; No. 54 / 6 min read

Disclaimer: Yes, I am a physician, but I’m not your doctor and this article does not create a doctor-patient relationship. This article is for educational purposes and should not be seen as medical advice. You should consult with your physician before you rely on this information. This post also contains affiliate links. Please click this LINK for the full disclaimer.

Finding a new pace

This year, I was determined to slow down my pace of posting articles. My life felt a bit too frantic with launching the website in 2020 and generating enough content to make visiting the website worthwhile. Well, I really slowed down my pace of releasing articles. What can I say? I’m an overachiever! As I reduced the number of articles that I completed, I also slowed the frequency of The Psychiatry Resource newsletter to match. My plan for 2022 is to continue sending one email newsletter per month.

Another area of slowing down and simplifying life involved fewer social media postings. Goodbye, Twitter and Instagram! I deleted those accounts and will continue posting content mainly on LinkedIn and Facebook.

My book

My biggest project in 2021 was writing a book on depression. About a year ago, I met with a literary consultant to discuss my idea of writing a practical book on depression for a wide audience.

Before I started writing the book, I researched writing and publishing books and kept coming across the name of an expert in the publishing industry. Now, this person is famous, and I don’t plan to share her name, but I came across an obscure webpage that said that I could pay a lot of money and have a one-hour consultation with her.

And I thought, “Well, why not?” So, I paid my money and waited months to see her. When I was finally able to meet with her, I shared my idea for a book on depression. This expert listened carefully, asked some very important questions, and then offered her advice, which started with (I’m paraphrasing), “You’re a nobody!”

Now, before you react to that, I should say that this is the advice I wanted and needed to hear. I was paying for this advice, and I actually find brutal honesty to be very refreshing. In Montana and the Pacific Northwest, everyone is so nice to each other. However, I did live on the East Coast for 5 years and came to really appreciate the unfiltered feedback I would receive from people from New York City and Boston.

So, this expert said, “You’re a nobody!” In saying this, she was accurately assessing the situation that I wasn’t famous and didn’t have a lot of followers who would purchase a book that I wrote. Then, she went further to make her point. She said, “The Dalai Lama gets to write a book on happiness. You don’t!” At this point, things were starting to become clear to me. Even if I wrote a book on depression, how could I get a publisher to publish it, and then, who would buy it and read it?

And then, the expert from on high threw me a bone. She said, “You have to be more specific. Is there anything special about you or more specific about the people you’re writing to?” And I thought about this for a while…and then it struck me! I said, “Well, I’m a Christian…and…you know there are a lot of depressed Christians who aren’t getting any help. They’re just suffering. And, there is a lot of stigma surrounding mental health in Christian communities that blocks them from getting help. No book really addresses these two areas well. I think I could write a book on depression for Christians that deals with stigma and tells them what treatments work! What do you think about that idea?”

And she said, “You know…that might actually work!”

The biggest event of the year

2021 is also the year that I changed the name of the blog. Ever since the pandemic started and people used the term “kung flu,” I have been upset with discrimination toward Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) people. I wrote an article about the reason for changing the name of the website in July titled “Kung Fu Psychiatry Becomes The Psychiatry Resource.”

Nobody asked me to change the name of the website, but I felt a conviction to do so. I would like to take a moment to encourage you to do the same. If you know that something is the right thing to do, then please do it. I’m glad that I made the effort even though it took me countless hours to change the name and I had to give up things I valued about the original name. Do the right thing – it’s worth it!

What hasn’t changed

Well, the website is still not making any money. I just find this to be hilarious! If you read any articles on the internet, they will tell you that if you can fog a mirror, you should be able to make money on your website. I must have some hang-ups in this area. I still do not want to junk up the website with ads. However, I have started to insert some banner ads that let people know about my upcoming book.

Another thing that has not changed from last year is that the content on the website has still not been discovered or gone viral. Also, the newsletter subscriber list is still growing as slowly as ever. However, after CBS did a recent piece on TMS therapy, the internet lit up my articles on TMS and allowed me to do a radio interview with Beatty Cohan this week on the Ask Beatty program, which airs live on Progressive Radio Network. I had such a blast sharing about TMS therapy with Beatty’s international radio audience!

Metrics from 2021

Considering that I wrote 43 articles in 2020, I feel slightly awkward sharing that I only wrote 9 articles in 2021. Yes, I did also complete an entire book in 2021, but I’m hoping to write at least…10…articles in 2022. Here are all the numbers:

Notable events from 2022

My biggest highlight of the second year of The Psychiatry Resource was seeing how I could develop and test out an idea for a blog article and later combine different ideas for a book chapter. In 2021, I was grateful to have my book, unJoy: hope and help for 7 million Christians with depression, accepted for publication by Wipf and Stock Publishers. The book is due to be released in spring 2022. I had a handful of other notable events this year, including:

Fun Surprises

  • My patients have pointed out that they are reading my parenting articles in Youth Connections Magazine.

  • I have been able to connect often with top researchers through these articles.

  • While it took a while, the website visibility on Google search has improved over the last year.

  • The name change of the website has been well-received.

  • The number of followers on Google News has steadily grown.

Summary and ideas for 2022

I’m glad that I contributed time and energy to The Psychiatry Resource in 2021, and I plan to continue doing the same in 2022. The name change for the website appears to have been critical to its long-term success. Creating articles for the website challenged me and helped me refine ideas that I eventually included in a book on depression.

Thank you for reading this article and other articles at The Psychiatry Resource. I hope that your 2022 is positive and that you pursue your goals and passions in the new year (I know I will!).

Happy New Year!

Fort further reading, check out:

Please follow us on Google News

It’s easy to follow us on Google News! Click this LINK to our FAQ page to learn how.

 
AdvocacyLen Lantz, MDThe Psychiatry ResourceLeadership, Advocacy, Wellness, Happiness, Best, Fun, Gratitude, Positive, Psychiatry, Quality, Review, PsychiatristComment