Last winter, a woman in her late thirties stood on the sidewalk outside a small therapy clinic in a more sedate area of London for nearly ten minutes before entering. She kept checking her phone, putting it away, and then checking it once more. The woman had taken her lunch break to make the appointment and was paying out of pocket because she didn’t want it on her insurance file, according to her therapist, who later mentioned the incident in passing. That brief moment has a subtle message. This is exactly what more people are doing in cities like Toronto…
Author: Jack Ward
If you drive far enough up PGA Boulevard, the South Florida strip-mall sprawl begins to fade away and is replaced by low, well-kept buildings that give the impression that money lives more quietly here. Located on the second floor of one of those buildings, Lickstein Plastic Surgery has unassuming signage. Maybe that’s the point. Speaking with patients in the area, it seems that word of mouth is the main way that Dr. David Lickstein’s name spreads in Palm Beach Gardens, where he has been practicing for many years. He is mentioned by a retired Jupiter investor. A Wellington real estate…
The building that houses Syracuse Plastic Surgery is situated among unremarkable brick neighbors on a small section of East Genesee Street in Syracuse, where traffic slows almost arbitrarily. If you weren’t looking, you would miss it. However, people do look. Walking through the same modest entrance that has served patients for more than 20 years, they come from all over Central New York, sometimes even farther. The constant focal point of it all has been Dr. Dean DeRoberts. It’s difficult to ignore how uncommon such longevity is in the field of cosmetic medicine. The field follows trends out of Miami…
There are two common venues for discussing the true cost of plastic surgery in Dallas: quiet conversations among friends and boisterous Reddit threads. Phillip Dauwe, MD, is situated in the middle of those two extremes. His Preston Road practice has come to serve as a kind of benchmark for anyone attempting to determine the cost of looking different. The numbers that are published are neat. The actual figures, which patients share with screenshots of their invoices months later, are more disorganized. On paper, a tummy tuck at Dauwe Plastic Surgery costs about $7,000, with an extended version costing about $9,000.…
Recently, therapists have been talking about a specific type of patient. She has been in weekly therapy for years, is in her late thirties, and has a stable job. She enters, takes a seat, and ten minutes later is in tears over a child she has never met in a city she has never been to. Last night, the child was using her phone. As they listen, the therapist realizes that the child on the screen isn’t the real target of the tears. They are intended for a much older, closer, or more distant person. Vicarious traumatization is the term…
When oil prices fluctuate in the afternoons, Riyadh experiences a certain kind of quiet. Men in clean white thobes are looking at their phones a bit more frequently than usual in the cafes around King Fahd Road, and you can practically feel it. Conversations change as Brent deducts two dollars. When Brent reaches three, someone places an order for more Arabic coffee. It’s difficult to ignore the close connection between a number flickering on a screen somewhere in London and the atmosphere of a city, possibly even a nation. Saudi Arabia has been the world’s most peaceful oil producer for…
The woman in the waiting area doesn’t look up as she scrolls. Her thumb moves in an automatic, almost devotional manner. For the first ten minutes in the office, her therapist will gently ask her to place the phone face down on the side table. She’ll fight back. The majority of people do. In 2026, therapy will look like this. These days, the main grievance isn’t always a breakup or an unfavorable boss. It’s the news more often. Clinicians frequently use the term “news-induced anxiety,” which has the subtle, sneaky feel of something that isn’t quite sure it’s a diagnosis…
Observing someone perform their duties from the wrong side of the bed can be subtly disorienting. In the neonatal intensive care unit at Sisters of Charity Hospital in Buffalo, Caitlin Vaccaro has been the soothing presence that other parents sought for ten years. She has monitored incredibly tiny lungs, consoled strangers, and discovered the language that families use when they are afraid but are still unsure of it. She became one of them this past week. Caleb, her son, was born at 34 weeks. six weeks ahead of schedule. According to Vaccaro, her initial response was more of a dark…