The New York Times
In an article about men with eating disorders, the NY Times quotes Dr Braun: ”Dr. Devra L. Braun, an author of the study and the former chief of the in-patient eating disorders service at the medical center” [stated]:
We think that the findings suggest that the incidence of men with eating disorders may be increasing or that more men with eating disorders are willing to come in for treatment…” “Dr. Braun emphasized that eating disorders still affected far more women than men. During the study period, the unit treated 621 women and 39 men…
Greenwich Magazine
In a feature on Dr. Braun’s work with hypnotherapy in the Greenwich Magazine On Health Supplement:
It was the best thing that happened to me, [Dr. Braun’s patient]… says. If not for hypnotherapy and Dr. Braun’, she adds, ‘I might not be driving yet.’
Dr. Devra Braun, the psychiatrist who treated Rose after the accident, needed but a few sessions to teach the patient relaxation techniques and, under hypnosis, mentally ‘pre-play’ each step of driving a car – climbing in, turning on the ignition, pulling out from the driveway. Overcoming her fears in ‘rehearsal’, Rose soon did the same in an actual road test. These days, she never thinks twice about getting behind the wheel.
‘Hypnosis is not the right treatment for every patient,’ says Dr. Braun, who is on the clinical faculty at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and has a private practice in Greenwich. ‘But it’s a wonderful adjunctive treatment.’
In other words, it’s another tool of the healer’s trade. It’s a powerful one, however. Increasingly, hypnosis is used to treat depression, anxiety, panic attacks, post-traumatic stress and phobias.
Excerpt from Greenwich Magazine, Health Supplement, 2004 (57)7, pg. 41-3
The Stamford Advocate
The Stamford Advocate quoted Dr. Braun on Seasonal Affective Disorder:
… Dr. Devra Braun, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical Center and medical director of Integrative Medicine and Psychotherapy of Greenwich, also takes an evolutionary approach to explaining the disorder and notes it has to do with sunlight rather than temperature.
“All these primitive cultures and modern religions, Hanukkah is the festival of lights, Christmas has Christmas lights, were affected by the decreasing photo period. Your brain responds to that, so for people it really becomes an issue,” she says. “It is probably related to hibernation and (in the winter) how little you could do after dusk.”
Before electricity and other modern conveniences, venturing out after dusk meant running the risk of being eaten or expending valuable calories needed for daylight hours, she says. She notes feasts like Thanksgiving were likely ways to overload on calories for the bleak season that followed.
…. SAD can intensify during the holidays, which adds to stress when people feel the financial crush and the need to idealize the season. It can lead others to believe they are suffering from the disorder when they are simply feeling seasonal pressures. “Some people that think they have winter depression just might have a lot of stresses around the holiday and the expectation of having this great, harmonious Christmas,” Braun says.
…. Braun says that both can work but have drawbacks; she suggests people with SAD first try natural approaches like outdoor exercise. “(A light box) isn’t that practical to sit in front of for even 30 minutes,” she says. As for antidepressants, she doesn’t believe enough studies have been done about what happens when you put someone on pills for a few months and then take them off.