Why I Practice GI Psychiatry — and Why It Matters

If you’re new here, welcome. If you’ve been reading for a while, this is a little re-introduction of who I am and what it is that I do.

My name is Claire Brandon, MD. I’m a psychiatrist, double board-certified in psychiatry and consultation-liaison psychiatry, with nearly a decade of experience in medically complex psychiatry. My clinical focus these days is Gastrointestinal or GI Psychiatry. That is the intersection of mental health, chronic gastrointestinal illness, and the gut–brain axis.

I do this work because, for way too long, we’ve separated the mind and body in ways that don’t reflect how people actually live in their bodies. This unfortunately is especially when chronic illness is involved.

Why This Newsletter Exists

I created this newsletter to have a source of accurate information from a gastrointestinal psychiatrit so that you can feel heard without minimizing what you're going through, and to allow for other medical providers to have answers to their questions too.

My goal is that you'll get weekly evidence-based education on GI psychiatry, tools that actually work for the nervous system, and to learn more about the overlap of mental health and chronic illness.

Dry January is often framed as a willpower challenge or a “reset” after indulgence. From a gut–brain perspective, it’s more interesting: it's collecting a data set about nervous system regulation.