Owning Pink

Redefining women's health: for heart, mind, body, and spirit

by Lissa Rankin, M.D.

What's Broken about Health Care and How to Fix It

If you haven't noticed, our health care system in the U.S. is imploding. I mean—things are bad. I'm a doctor, and yet, because I was diagnosed with high blood pressure in my twenties, and because my husband accidentally cut two fingers off his left hand with a table saw, we're uninsurable under a traditional family health insurance program. Read More

In Defense of Doctors

If you've been following my blog series about Pink Medicine, you'll see that I've been kind of harsh to the doctors of the Old Medicine. I've put out a global apology on behalf of physicians everywhere. I've ranted about doctors who get annoyed with empowered, educated patients. And I've suggested that patients have the power to heal themselves. Read More

I'm Sorry, Wounded Healers

In this post, I offered up a global apology on behalf of doctors everywhere to those whom they may have hurt. But if you're a doctor, I can guarantee that you also deserve an apology. I'm certain that you—like me—have suffered at the hands of other doctors, so on behalf of those doctors who have hurt you, I'm so sorry, my love. Read More

Patient, Heal Thyself

You can be your own doctor, love.

Yes, you heard me right.

You can be your own doctor. Read More

A Global Apology on Behalf of Physicians Everywhere

Since I wrote this post about the doctor-patient relationship of the broken, outdated, patriarchal system, I've been inundated with emails from all of you, telling me your horror stories. (Fortunately, you're also telling me the good stuff in response to this post about the doctor-patient relationship in The Pink Medicine, so thank you for that!) Read More

The Difference Between Healing and Curing

Welcome back to The Pink Medicine blog series, wherein I share with you my vision for a new type of health care model, a model I call "Pink Medicine." In my last post, The Difference Between Sick, Well, & Whole, I talked about my father's death and said that I learned that there is a critical difference between healing and curing. Read More

The Difference Between Sick, Well, & Whole

As I described here, I don't think it's enough for us, as doctors and other health care providers, to aim for helping our patients get well. Yes, it's critical to help people move from sick to well, but then what? So many of my patients go to their doctors, complaining from symptoms of this mojo-sapping epidemic that seems to be infecting the developed world. Read More

Don't Settle for Being Well

When I was learning to be a doctor, the focus was on making the sick well, but there was a huge piece missing from what they taught me in my medical education. Nobody ever taught me that, as doctors, it's our job to help people become, not just well, but whole. Read More

Do You Want Miracles? Be a Spirit Junkie!

In a world overflowing with self-help books about absolutely nothing, my dear friend Gabrielle Bernstein's new book Spirit Junkie is a cool drink of mint iced tea on a blazing September day. Read More

Expanding The Definition Of “Health”

Not only do I think we need to revolutionize the way we as patients and healers collaborate; I also think we need to redefine how we think about health. Read More

Turn Off The TV & Live Longer

The fact that I don't own a television makes me a bit of a social misfit, especially when I'm the one ON the television, and my own kid can't tune in to see Mommy on the boob tube.

It's been over seven years since I cancelled my cable subscription, and I can honestly say it was one of the smartest things I've ever done. Read More

10 Things I Learned From People Who Survive Cancer

When I interviewed women who had survived breast cancer for my art project The Woman Inside, I noticed that they all shared one remarkable thing in common.

They had all faced down death and decided to live every day like it might be their last. And then they all beat cancer. Read More

Introducing Pink Medicine

When I decided to put my white coat back on, I committed to reclaiming what I love about medicine and ditching what I've come to despise. Read More

How to Have “The Talk” with Your Daughter

As part of my UbyKotex corporate spokesperson job, I was recently interviewed by Breezy Mama about how to have "the talk" about puberty, periods, and sexual development with your daughter. Since I'm already having the talk and many of you might need to do the same, I wanted to share it with you here! Read More

You Messed Up Again, Summer’s Eve

I thought last year's Summer's Eve campaign was horrendous enough. After they asked me to be their spokesperson (and I said "No freakin' way - it's supposed to smell like a vagina) I was appalled at their advertorial in Woman's Day magazine that offered up tips for how to ask your boss for a raise. Read More

You're Healed If You Think You Are

Something very powerful happens when you BELIEVE you are being treated with something that will heal you. Read More

When Docs Get Annoyed At Empowered Patients

I felt my ire rise when I read this article on CNN about how patients are giving their doctors headaches. Apparently, this video entitled "The Patient Who Knows Too Much", which is part of a training program aimed at doctors to help them deal with "difficult patients," has caused quite a stir. Read More

The Doctor-Patient Relationship: Part Two

Last week I wrote about the Doctor-Patient Relationship of the broken, outdated, patriarchal health care system of The Old Medicine. Today, I'm going out on a limb to suggest a new kind of Doctor-Patient Relationship, the kind I practice and I hope others in The New Medicine do too. Here goes nothing. Read More

The Doctor-Patient Relationship: Part One

When I was training to become a physician, the rules of the broken, outdated, patriarchal medical system were made clear to me. Read More

Is Alternative Medicine Just a Placebo?

As someone who supports many forms of alternative medicine, included many alternative medicine practitioners in my integrative medicine practice at the Owning Pink Center, and empowers my patients to seek out treatments based on the guidance of their healing inner wisdom (I call it your "Inner Pilot Light"), this statement in an article on CNN caught my eye: Read More

How To Be A Great Patient: A Doctor’s Wish List

Given the state of our broken health care system, I feel like we doctors don't have much right to ask our patients how to behave, since most of us are falling far short of how our patients would prefer we behaved. As a patient, you may feel rushed, unheard, and condescended upon. You may feel that your intuition is neglected and your questions aren't answered. Read More

How To Treat Insomnia Naturally

We've all been there. You go to bed right on time, knowing the alarm will jar you awake 8 hours later. You've got a big presentation in the morning. Or your grad school interview is the next day. Or you just know the baby will be waking you soon. So it's critical that you fall asleep - now. Read More

8 Ways To Reduce Your Risk of Cancer From Cell Phones

When I heard from the Associated Press that the World Health Organization just released this statement announcing that cell phones may indeed be carcinogenic, I felt my breath catch in my throat as I put my cell phone down. Read More

“Viagra Condom” May Be On Its Way

We've all been there. You're making out. Things get hot and heavy. He's got his hand under your blouse, and you can feel him stiffen under your touch. The inevitable is about to happen. And then you remember the condom in your purse. Read More

15 More Crazy Things About Vaginas

My post "15 Crazy Things About Vaginas" was so freakin' popular, it got 2.5 million hits in one day and spread virally around the internet, generating so much traffic that it crashed OwningPink.com! Apparently, people are really curious about vaginas, so I sorted through my book What's Up Down There? Read More

Celebrating Death & Violence: Is It Ever Good?

A few years back, I was in Santa Fe during the Zozobra Festival, and everyone told me it was a must-do Santa Fe cultural tradition. So I went, expecting to laugh, have a glass of wine, and let loose. Then I got there and saw the 10-story Zozobra, an effigy of a man who the townspeople had stuffed with all the negativity they wanted to release for their lives that year. Read More

15 Ways To Leave Your Lover (With Love)

I just reread Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir Eat, Pray, Love, and I found myself tearing up when I read, "The only thing more unthinkable than leaving was staying; the only thing more impossible than staying was leaving." You see, I remember that feeling. I'll never forget that feeling. Read More

15 Crazy Things About Vaginas

Last month, I finally finished my 20-city book tour to promote What's Up Down There? Questions You'd Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend (Woo-hoo! Trumpets blare! Cymbals crash! Phew). But i realized that I never posted a juicy post that I wrote in the fall at the beginning of the tour... and gals, is it a good one. Read More

11 Natural Treatments For Depression: An MD’s Tips For Skipping The Prozac

As an MD, I've watched too many of my colleagues yank out anti-depressant samples every time a patient starts to cry. So on behalf of physicians everywhere, let me apologize for our trigger-happy prescription-writing behavior. I don't mean to diminish the pain someone who is depressed might experience. But tears are healthy. Sadness doesn't always need treatment. Read More

Radiation 101: How Does Nuclear Radiation Affect The Body?

The latest weather forecast reports that the winds over the nuclear power plant in Japan have switched directions, and instead of blowing radioactive particles out to sea, the nuclear plume is drifting over Japan. Which is tragic, really. Read More