Data shows us that the problem appears to be the quality of clinical practice we are employing. When the next treatment outcome is disappointing, or even suboptimal, begin by looking first at yourself, your process, and your work.

Clinicians can mitigate moral distress in the face of mistakes. Admitting and facing it is a sign of clinical maturity, fostering further growth in our clinical skills and personal and professional development.

Just as it is rewarding to observe patients with newly improved lives, when I can impart a self-educational process to members of my field, I am satisfied, trusting that they will be able to carry it even further.

Heeding something as simple as others’ reading suggestions is only one example of being open to other people’s worlds, which enriches not only our own but our whole society.

Seeking and maintaining relevance requires taking risks.

Only by anticipating, recognizing, and countering common human errors can we reduce treatment failure and suboptimal outcomes, and increase professional satisfaction.

Reading books improves our cognitive function, but only if we pick them up. Opening a book opens a brain.

Every clinical decision we make involves uncertainty. We can come prepared with a cognitive strategy to keep moving forward in a positive and productive direction for our patients and our own professional satisfaction.

Psychiatry must be conceptual in order to define problems and conceive of how we can help people with them. That being said, the tools that our brains provide for us to do this are quite flawed.

At a time when psychiatric practice is becoming increasingly complex, the role of individual cognitive mistakes in causing medical errors remains underexamined. Understanding how we make them can go a long way toward elevating patient care and reducing treatment failure.