Heal: A Psychiatrist’s Inspiring Story of What it Takes to Recover from Chronic Pain, Depression, and Addiction...and What Stands in the Way

Sumter M. Carmichael, MD is a board-certified psychiatrist living in Birmingham, Alabama. Before pursuing her psychiatric career, Dr. Carmichael graduated from Stanford University with honors in mathematics and attended Cornell University Medical College in New York City. Following a medical internship with Tinsley Harrison in Birmingham, Alabama, she did research at the Cardiovascular Research Center in Birmingham and the Virginia Heart Lab in Charlottesville, Virginia. Following a residency in psychiatry in Birmingham, she studied for seven years with a Freudian analyst and seven years with a Jungian analyst, both in Alabama. Following a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, she went into private practice, where she worked closely with a pastoral counseling center. There she did individual, family, and group therapy while continuing to teach medical students. In 1990 she began working with medical patients at the local county hospital, teaching medical students and young doctors about pain, depression, anxiety, and addiction. Work with medical patients suffering from depression and chronic pain culminated in establishing a multidisciplinary pain clinic for the poor called the Endorphin Clinic to teach the importance of the healing that comes from within. Observing the disconnect between what is known about pain, depression, anxiety, opiates, and addiction and what patients expect and doctors mete out, she retired in 2006 to work on this book. Dr. Carmichael grew up in the Episcopal Church and worked for many years with ministers from different religious traditions. This gave her a unique perspective on the wisdom of Jesus and the role of anxiety in the distortion of religious and other beliefs. Dr. Carmichael is married and known socially as Belle Sumter Coleman