Gratitude During an Evolving Pandemic

The year 2021 brought an evolving pandemic and, likewise, an evolving response from the field and from us as individuals. In an echo of this time last year, much of the world is facing a surge of COVID-19 infections. As opposed to last year, however, vaccines are now widely available in the US for adults and all but young children. Yet so many people decline these vaccines, raising questions about the impacts of health literacy, communications, and politics on health care and public health.

We might have research findings with the potential to advance human health and alleviate suffering, but if those findings do not translate into benefit for human lives, they are for naught. As stated by Dr Francis Collins, the leader of the National Institutes of Health, as he retires from this role, “Communicating our research is an important part of what all scientists are called upon to do. To be successful, a scientist needs to be aware of whether the information is actually getting across.”¹

To get that information across so it can ultimately benefit patients, we need effective instruments of information dissemination to reach health care providers. At JCP, that is our mission. Every day, we strive to provide clinically relevant, scientifically meaningful work that will result in a health care workforce that is better prepared to meet the psychiatric needs of the population and a research community that is informed about the needs of the public.

We are grateful to the authors who send us their best work and to the peer reviewers whom we entrust with assessing that work before it is widely distributed. The role of the peer reviewer in the delivery of high-quality information that will affect patient care cannot be emphasized enough. It is hard work, largely anonymous and intensive, and we are indebted to our reviewers for their time and expertise.

We encourage early- and mid-career colleagues to join in the review process, and we urge senior colleagues to mentor others in how to peer-review papers. A more diverse pool of reviewers is needed in order to ensure that the work we publish is relevant and meaningful to the broadest population of patients. To learn more about peer-reviewing for JCP (and the opportunity to receive CME credit), we encourage you to visit Psychiatrist.com/information-for-reviewers.

The pandemic is still shifting the way psychiatric and psychological services are provided. The evolution of telehealth services continues, and the psychosocial concerns and disparities underscored by the pandemic also continue. Research and clinical care will undoubtedly change further over time, with an opportunity to freshly examine many of the barriers to care and research historically encountered in our work. We remain confident that the pipeline of novel treatments and improvements in health care delivery will enhance our patients’ quality of life.

As is the case for the general public, a sense of fatigue has emerged among many of us in the JCP community, although we remain hopeful for the new year. Many are spread thin, exhausted, and frustrated. However, we are also nourished professionally and otherwise by giving back. It is in this context that I express my deepest gratitude for our peer reviewers, authors, and the incredible JCP staff.

On behalf of the JCP team, we thank you. We hope that 2022 brings you joy, comfort, and peace.

Marlene P. Freeman, MD
Editor in Chief

Reviewers for The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
December 5, 2020–December 5, 2021

Published online: January 11, 2022.

J Clin Psychiatry 2022;83(1):21ed14363

To cite: Freeman MP. Gratitude during an evolving pandemic.  J Clin Psychiatry. 2022;83(1):21ed14363.
To share: https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.21ed14363

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