An Interview With Charles Sophy, D.O.

Dr. Glass: Dr. Sophy, I appreciate your taking the time to be interviewed for our journal. Let me start by asking about what motivated you to become a doctor and then a psychiatrist?

Dr. Sophy: I grew up in Pennsylvania, and my family wasn’t very well off. My father was a coal miner and was self-employed with no medical benefits. We didn’t have subsidized health care, and we always paid out of pocket. So, at a very young age, I realized how important it is to have medical care and how having it or not having it can affect the rest of your life. I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a doctor in order to provide medical care to others.

When I started my residency in family practice, I found that I was liking a lot of components on the mental health side. I was fascinated that someone could have a disease that could present itself through hallucinations, behavior changes, etc., because of one organ: your brain.

When I completed my residency, I began working in adult psychiatry and was really interested in helping kids with mental health issues; since they were young, they were still formative and had a better chance of getting healthy. I wanted to aid in that charge, so I did a fellowship in that concentration.

Since there is such an overlap in those two specialties, I always knew that there would be an opportunity that would combine both into a job at some point in my career, because that’s where I thought the future of medicine was going. The Medical Director job at the DCFS [Department of Children and Family Services] kind of found me.

Dr. Glass: At some point you moved from Pennsylvania to California. How did your life unfold in that way?

Dr. Sophy: I was in a relationship with someone from the second or third year in medical school through my fellowship. We took our boards in California and saw a whole different world than Pennsylvania ever showed us. So, we looked for jobs out here and we took them. At the time, I was studying primary care and psychiatry.

Dr. Glass: I remember watching you on the TV show "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" during medical school. Please tell me about your first television appearance and how that happened.

Dr. Sophy: It started when it became public knowledge that I was the physician for Paris Hilton as she was preparing to enter prison for driving without her license. Out of that awareness of who I was and what I did, it took on a life of its own. I started being invited to be on CNN, "Entertainment Tonight," and other shows, and through that process met Dr. Drew. I saw that there was a needed component of presenting the mental health side more fully on his show, so he asked me to be a guest.

Dr. Glass: How did you get connected with Dr. Phil, Dr. Drew, and their shows?

Dr. Sophy: Through all these processes, I ended up meeting Dr. Phil too. But I had also worked with Dr. Phil on cases that overlapped with DCFS.

Dr. Glass: For trainees who dream of pursuing a career in television, what advice do you have for them?

Dr. Sophy: Along their process, they should expose themselves to that world, either as an internship or some other kind of experience, and get comfortable with public speaking and being in front of the camera. That will lead them to where they want to be.

Dr. Glass: It would seem that it would be a challenge to maintain a work-life balance by working as a psychiatrist and then as a guest on various television shows. How do you do it? What advice do you have for trainees who may struggle to maintain a work-life balance?

Dr. Sophy: Over the years I’ve come up with the key areas of life that need to be in balance for anyone. It works and it fits into a mnemonic called SWEEP. You need three out of the five in balance, but preferably four or five will be. It’s necessary to keep your life in check.

SWEEP is:

• Sleep: Are you getting enough quantity and quality of sleep? When you wake up, do you feel good?

• Work: Are you fulfilled enough at work—even if staying home is your work—to be happy at the end of the day?

• Eating: Are you using food to stay healthy and energetic? Is meal time a time for relaxation and communication?

• Emotional expression: Do you let the important people in your life know how you are feeling? Do you allow yourself physical and emotional intimacy?

• Play: Are you letting yourself enjoy life? Do you have a way to let go of worry and direct your energy to a positive place?

When you feel as though any of these are lacking, take a step back and think about how you can address them.

Dr. Glass: You published a book titled Side By Side: The Revolutionary Mother-Daughter Program for Conflict-Free Communication. What led you to write this book? For trainees who may want to publish a book later in their careers, what suggestions do you have?

Dr. Sophy: After doing a lot of work with my celebrity clients, specifically Paris, I was asked by my publishers to try to memorialize and help to shed light on how a family of good resources could end up in a place like prison. My view is that everyone is equal. It doesn’t matter how much money you have, if you break the law and commit a crime, you will face consequences. It doesn’t matter your race, creed, religion, or any of that. We are all equal.

Dr. Glass: It has been an honor. Thank you again for your time, Dr. Sophy.