jjablkowski's blog

My interest in the development of relevant medical educational and health care programs for LGBTQIA2S+ people was sparked after reading The New Life by Tom Crewe, a student of 19-century British history. Although the story is presented as historical fiction, it is based on the efforts of Dr Henry Havelock Ellis (1859–1939), a pioneer medical sexologist, and his associates in the late 1800s.

The observance of a Father’s Day in the US, and subsequently in Canada as of the 1920s, started because of tragic events. One woman’s memory of a mine explosion in West Virginia in the early 1900s, which left over 250 widows and more than 1000 children fatherless, and another woman’s memory of her father, an American Civil War veteran who kept his family together after his wife died of childbirth, led to years of concerted efforts to commemorate fathers.

Dr Stephan N. Willich, professor and director of the Institute of Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics at the Charité University Medical Center in Berlin, is a keen student of musical history and the representation of medicine in music.

As a couple’s counselor, I have found that relationship challenges can often be attributed to negative patterns of interaction that limit our ability to feel connected to one another. These patterns are often the result of experiences in early years, difficulty with vulnerability, unresolved issues in the current relationship, lack of understanding of our attachment styles, and difficulty regulating emotions in times of conflict. Neither physicians nor their relationships are spared these challenges. 

With considerable interest, I read Dr Jack Chang’s BCMJ blog post about the taboos surrounding cosmetic surgery for men, specifically the taboos about issues relating to penis size. I appreciate Dr Chang’s recommendation that genital cosmetic surgery needs to be accompanied by some form of educational support. In my close to 3 decades of clinical experience in the areas of sexual medicine and sexual rehabilitation, there were three areas of importance to discuss.