LETTERS FROM THE FRONT LINES
Mark Foster is a family physician, writer, and public speaker based in Colorado. He graduated from Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2003, completed his residency at North Colorado Family Medicine in 2006, and is board certified in Family Medicine. In addition to clinical practice, Mark is currently working on several writing projects and accepting invitations to speak at conferences regarding mental health reform. Please see his website, drmarkfoster.com, for details and contact information.
Recent Posts by Mark Foster, D.O.
Letters From the Front Lines
Letters from the Front Lines
Letters from the Front Lines
Letters from the Front Lines
Letters From the Front Lines
by Mark Foster, D.O.
July 5, 2012
Dear Bob: Saw a young man recently, early 30s, who wanted help withdrawing from benzodiazepines. He had been on escalating doses of Xanax for two years. The Xanax had been prescribed for panic attacks that began after he was placed on …
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Letters from the Front Lines
by Mark Foster, D.O.
May 22, 2012
I saw a patient recently, a 35 year-old woman who needed a refill of her Zoloft. She been started on it four years prior, after the birth of her first child when she had been overwhelmed with a fussy infant …
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Letters from the Front Lines
by Mark Foster, D.O.
April 10, 2012
Dear Bob– Here’s a story of stark contrasts. I saw a man for a physical recently, mid-50′s. He was the picture of health, on no medications or supplements. He was an avid biker and outdoorsman, conscientious of his diet, great …
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Letters from the Front Lines
by Mark Foster, D.O.
February 21, 2012
Bob– An encounter from this week: I saw a 24 year-old theater actress who was started on Lexapro nine months ago for a one-time “panic attack” and has gained sixty pounds since. This is extremely distressing to her as her …
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Letters from the Front Lines
by Mark Foster, D.O.
February 1, 2012
Dear Bob– I’ve had a couple of remarkable conversations, not with my own patients, but with friends and acquaintances asking me for advice. Each example depicts so much that is wrong with the biomedical model of mental health care. First, …
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Letters from the Front Lines
by Mark Foster, D.O.
January 19, 2012
Dear Bob– I met a new patient today, an African American gentleman in his late 40′s, a successful entrepreneur and innovator (invented and marketed his own garage organizer), who is having devastating health problems related to his heart and weight, …
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Letters from the Front Lines
by Mark Foster, D.O.
January 11, 2012
Dear Bob– Last fall, I was filling in at a clinic for a provider who was on vacation, and saw a woman in her late 40s for this complaint: “Anxiety/depression worse, wants to go back on meds.” Prior to my …
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Letters From the Front Lines
by Mark Foster, D.O.
December 31, 2011
Dear Bob– A disturbing case from this week. I was working at an urgent care and saw a fifteen-year old boy for the complaint of severe headache. Before even walking into the exam room, I was concerned as I looked …
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Healing the Body and Mind
by Mark Foster, D.O.
November 6, 2011
My name is Mark Foster. I am a family physician and writer from Colorado, and the co-Founder and president of a new non-profit called ClearMind, Inc., dedicated to bringing consumers and professionals together to advocate and provide services for non-pharmaceutical …
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September 15, 2011
by Mark Foster, D.O.
September 15, 2011
Dear Bob– As I share with patients my new perspectives on the ineffectiveness and potential harm of psychotropic drugs, I have found that many, even most people, are receptive to the idea. I’d say that about 25% of people are …
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Categorized in: Blogs
August 4, 2011
by Mark Foster, D.O.
August 4, 2011
Dear Bob– I saw a very nurturing woman a few months ago, quite obese, for the symptoms of chest pain and fatigue. She had been admitted to the hospital six days previously for the same symptoms. She’d had a thorough …
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July 12, 2011
by Mark Foster, D.O.
July 12, 2011
Dear Bob– I want to share a case from this past week the reveals a disturbing misuse of stimulants in treating a poorly diagnosed case of ADHD. I was filling in at a local urgent care on a Sunday when …
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June 27, 2011
by Mark Foster, D.O.
June 27, 2011
Dear Bob– I have been working again, taking temporary assignments filling in for other physicians and working in urgent cares while I get my practice re-established. It has been great to re-engage with real patients in the throes of life, …
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Categorized in: Blogs, Pregnancy & Birth Defects
June 17, 2011
by Mark Foster, D.O.
June 17, 2011
Bob– Here is a letter that I wrote several months ago in response to an early reader of my blog here. She expressed concern about the way I described my reaction to a patient who, in very poor mental and …
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Categorized in: Blogs, Pregnancy & Birth Defects
April 30, 2011
by Mark Foster, D.O.
April 30, 2011
Bob– I have found that many patients, and even many physicians, don’t appreciate the basic differences between psychology and psychiatry. For most of your readers, I suspect they grasp the sometimes profound divides between these disciplines. But for many patients, …
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April 11, 2011
by Mark Foster, D.O.
April 11, 2011
Dear Bob– I want to share an email I received from a physician friend, who practices in a hospital-based specialty. He is highly intelligent, naturally skeptical, and thus interested in seeing for himself if there was any merit to your …
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March 29, 2011
by Mark Foster, D.O.
March 29, 2011
Dear Bob– Since you posted about my termination last week, I’ve received a lot of words of support and encouragement, and I wanted to say thank you. Mental health reform is a cause I have come to deeply believe in, …
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March 15, 2011
by Mark Foster, D.O.
March 15, 2011
Bob– I want to share with you a success story that has played out over the last three months. I have been working with a woman in her mid-fifties who is wheelchair bound due to crippling arthritis and obesity. She …
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Letters from the Front Lines
by Mark Foster, D.O.
March 15, 2011
Bob– I want to share with you a success story that has played out over the last three months. I have been working with a woman in her mid-fifties who is wheelchair bound due to crippling arthritis and obesity. She …
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Categorized in: Blogs
March 4, 2011
by Mark Foster, D.O.
March 4, 2011
Bob– I’m going to share with you a case from today that did not involve psychotropics, but I think it illustrates an important point about the opportunity cost of reflexive prescribing. I saw a new patient today, a distinguished fifty-two …
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