A Brief Intro: Who Are We & Why Are We Antisocial?

We’re Sonia Singh, MD (Internal Medicine) and Rebecca Berens, MD (Family Medicine) — direct primary care physicians, moms, and humans navigating health misinformation alongside our patients. In this episode, we share why we created this podcast, what “antisocial” actually means, and how our personal and clinical experiences shape our approach to health conversations online.

What we cover:
 • Our backgrounds and clinical perspectives
 • Why social media health trends feel so powerful
 • What’s missing from most debunking content
 • How this podcast is structured

To receive professional continuing education credits for listening to our episodes- visit www.theantidocialdoctors.com to subscribe. You will receive an email with each new episode including a link to the episode, a written summary, and a link to claim your CME/CEs.

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 👉www.theantisocialdoctors.com

Transcript

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Sonia Singh MD 1:27

You are listening to the Antisocial Doctors Podcast, hosted by me, Sonia Singh, a board certified internal medicine physician with a Master's in nutrition and a special interest in health anxiety

Rebecca Berens MD 1:38

and me, Rebecca Barons, a board certified family medicine physician with a special interest in disordered eating.

Sonia Singh MD 1:43

We're also a millennial women anxious moms and curious humans navigating social media. We've seen firsthand how these platforms can be powerful tools for education and connection, but can also make us unwell.

Rebecca Berens MD 1:56

This podcast is meant to be the antidote to your doom. Scrolling, a solve for the anxiety, stress, guilt, shame, and confusion that comes from social media's messaging around health. In each episode, we discuss a health related topic, trending on social media with curiosity, nuance evidence, humility, and compassion.

Sonia Singh MD 2:12

This is not your average debunking podcast. We wanna explore not just what is trending on social media, but why? Why are so many people drawn to this? What is the nugget of truth here? What are the facts? What can we learn from this as patients and doctors? No shame. No blame, no snark.

Rebecca Berens MD 2:27

We're so glad you're here.

Sonia Singh MD 2:41

All right, first episode. Hi, Rebecca.

Rebecca Berens MD 2:43

I saw. Me,

Sonia Singh MD 2:43

I am so excited to be doing this with you.

Rebecca Berens MD 2:45

I'm also so excited.

Sonia Singh MD 2:47

We've been talking about this for a few months and I am glad that we finally decided to commit and do it. For the first episode, it's gonna be a little bit different. We're just gonna introduce ourselves so you can know who we are and why we're antisocial. Maybe you can start by sharing a little bit about your background and kind of how you got here.

Rebecca Berens MD 3:02

Yeah. So, I'm a family medicine physician and I am in private practice and a direct care practice here in the Houston area. And. I would say my story probably started all the way back when I was in college. I actually struggled with an eating disorder in college and that experience really drew me to, as, as I moved through medical school and residency training really approach my patients from a different perspective, particularly the health at every size perspective. That is a perspective I learned about during my recovery that I found very useful for myself, and I think really shaped the way that I approach things with patients.

Sonia Singh MD 3:36

Well, I love that. I also love how open and vulnerable you're willing to be about your own history. I think sometimes as doctors, we're taught to have this mask on where we don't share anything about our personal lives and we never disclose any of that information. And I think the fact that you're so open about it and willing to be open about it and have used that to inform your practice is just so wonderful.

Rebecca Berens MD 3:56

Thank

Sonia Singh MD 3:56

you. So a little bit about myself. I am a board certified internal medicine physician. I am also a primary care, a direct primary care doctor like Rebecca is. We both practice in Houston, Texas. I grew up with a dad who was a physician and a mom who had health, anxiety, chronic pain, and a lot of unexplained symptoms. She also, despite being married to a doctor, didn't believe in western medicine. So, I joke often. I grew up in the Bay Area. I joke that she was crunchy before crunchy was even a thing. And I found that once I left training and went out into practice, I was attracting a lot of patients like her. Um, it was not really intentional or something that I was, trying to do, but I noticed it happening and over time I think I realized that I had maybe a different level of empathy and understanding for that patient population. And once I went into direct care and had more time with patients, I found myself embracing that demographic and people who are struggling with those issues and being more and more interested in how we can best serve those patients. And I think we don't do a great job of that in traditional healthcare. And I feel like it's something that deserves more time and attention. And so I've kind of, Been drawn to that, for the past year, past few years. And, you know, honestly, I think it, it's funny, I think for both of us, when you look back at your career oftentimes like you're trying to answer a question that came from somewhere earlier in your life. And I think that's kind of true for both of us. So, the question I'm trying to answer is how do we serve patients better who are dealing with unexplained or chronic symptoms that. The traditional healthcare system is not addressing. So I guess the next question would be why are we antisocial and why are we doing this podcast?

Rebecca Berens MD 5:29

Yeah. So I feel like this conversation came up after you and I, you know, we're both in similar mom Facebook groups and we've seen lots of questions and trends, throughout our own time on social media. And I think coming from the education background and the career background that we have one perspective on it, but we also have the. Patient and mom perspective on it. And sometimes it can feel really confusing and difficult to navigate. What's true even with the training that we have. What's true? What, what are we missing? Is there something that we didn't know? Mm-hmm. Because it's something that's coming up for so many different people. And so, I think we've seen on social media. A lot of professionals now are trying to get onto social media and provide more information, but sometimes it's done in a way that's a little bit shammy or a little bit victim blamey, mm-hmm. And just not very nuanced, not really taking into account where people are coming from with these questions and not really getting to the root of why is this an issue in the first place? And I think we really wanted to be able to approach those questions from a little bit more nuanced and compassionate way.

Sonia Singh MD 6:34

Yeah, I think that there's a lot of great people, trying to provide good, accurate information and trying to do the debunking on social media, but the reality is that social media as a platform or as multiple platforms is really not designed for nuance and context and that deeper dive. And so I think, you and I are both on social media. We make content, but it's really hard to fully. Address a lot of the issues that come up there in that platform. The other, just the other day I tried to write a comment on a post that I thought was misleading and Instagram kept not letting me post it 'cause there were too many characters and I just kept trying to make it smaller and smaller. And eventually I was like, no, this thing cannot be explained in less than that many characters. That's how many I need to accurately, respond to this comment. I, I think that's why podcasts felt like a little bit more of a natural place and I think. Both you and I as physicians really craved a resource that we could provide for patients on a lot of these topics. And when we've looked, when I've looked around, I can't find one that does not have that kind of undertone of snark and blame and shame for people seeking information in this format. So. That's, that is why we're antisocial and why we're here. And it's a little bit of a tongue in cheek phrase 'cause we're not totally antisocial. We are both on social media. Yeah.

Rebecca Berens MD 7:49

But we're both pretty introverted and a little bit antisocial media.

Sonia Singh MD 7:51

It's true. It's true. And in, in terms of why we got so into social media, I guess that's some context to explain is both of us have direct primary care practices and as part of that, we have presence as. Online, that's kind of part of the way you find patients and market yourself. And so prior to that, I, I think you said you were only following like sewing videos on social media and I was really basically never posting anything. And I had a rule for myself that I only followed people that I actually knew in real life. So my feed was very limited and very boring. And, it was only after I. Started my practice and created a professional account and really started engaging with people in the health and wellness space on social media that my eyes were open to, what was happening there. And then it was when I was in this model of practice and got to spend more time with my patients and actually hear from them what they're seeing and hearing and believing that I realized gosh, this is a really big deal and we're not doing enough to. Address it basically.

Rebecca Berens MD 8:48

Yeah. And that's really how people get sucked into this sort of misleading information is like mm-hmm. The, a lot of the information is, oh, your doctor doesn't know about this, or This is what they're not telling you. And then they bring it up to their doctor and they're totally dismissed or Yeah. You know, laughed at, and it's. How can we possibly counteract that information if we're not willing to engage with it and explain and have that nuanced conversation?

Sonia Singh MD 9:12

Yeah, and the sad part is that all of that takes time. And in traditional healthcare, it's really hard for doctors and patients to find that time together, or even for doctors to find the time for. Outside of clinic to get caught up on what's going on on social media and what are actually the facts and really looking into it deeply. So we're in a unique position where we have the time with patients to do those things. And we also have the bandwidth as physicians to, embark on a project like this. So basically. Each week, we're gonna cover a different topic or in each episode we're gonna cover a different topic, that we see trending on social media. Each show is gonna be structured the same, where we'll talk about, well, what is the topic and what is the claim? Why is it viral? This is the thing that I think a lot of other sites that kind of provide accurate information and debunk things don't necessarily delve into like, why did patients get, why did people get drawn to that? Why are there so many eyeballs on this in the first place? And I think. Looking for that answer. You can learn a lot about, what we should be doing better in medicine, honestly. We'll look at what is the nugget of truth. 'cause a lot of these things do start, not all of them, but a lot of them do start with some truth. What are the facts? And when we talk about facts, we wanna make sure that we're. Explaining them in a nuanced, accurate way with references and with context, which I think is often missing on social media. What can we learn from this as doctors and humans? Humility is something I wanna make sure that we have throughout this podcast and acknowledging where our healthcare system falls short, where we can do better and where we're failing patients but also just what we can learn as human beings about how to navigate social media safely. And then in our show notes, we're gonna include resources for where people can go for more information on some of these topics. Maybe people to follow that, provide accurate information. And we're very open to suggestions about topics that you wanna have covered, or things that you're seeing that you have questions about.

Rebecca Berens MD 11:00

Absolutely. And really our goal here is we wanna make this a resource for a patient that wants to have a deeper dive into a trend that they've seen on social media, around a health topic. We want it to feel validating. We want it to be evidence-based. We don't wanna be snarky, we don't wanna blame, we don't wanna have any judgment. This is a judgment free zone. And we really wanna provide also a resource for doctors to better understand and respond to patient's questions because I think part of the way that we're going to be able to heal that doctor patient relationship is by providing information to doctors as well, who don't have the time that we have to go and do this deep dive.

Sonia Singh MD 11:34

Absolutely. So we hope you'll stick along for this journey, and, we'd love to hear from you. So if you're, listening and enjoying or not enjoying, please feel free to send us your feedback and, hope you enjoy the show. Hey guys. Last but not least, we have a very important disclaimer. This podcast is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. The content shared on this podcast, including but not limited to opinions, research discussions, case examples, and commentary, is not medical advice and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical evaluation diagnosis. Or treatment. Listening to this podcast does not establish a physician patient relationship between you and the hosts. We are doctors, but not your doctors. Any medical topics discussed are presented for general informational purposes and may not apply to your individual circumstances. Always seek the advice of your own qualified healthcare professional regarding any questions you have about your health, medical conditions, or treatment options. Never disregard or delay medical advice because of something you've heard on this podcast. While the hosts are licensed physicians, the views and opinions expressed are our own and do not represent those of our employers, institutions, organizations, or professional societies with which we are affiliated. Although we do our best to stay up to date, please note that this podcast includes discussion of emerging research, evolving medical concepts, and differing professional opinions. Medicine is not static and information may change over time. We, the hosts make no guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or applicability of this content, and we disclaim any liability for actions taken or not taken based on the information provided in this. Podcast by listening to the Antisocial Doctors podcast. You have agreed to these terms. Thanks again for joining us.