mental health, psychiatry, and friends 💊 🩺

Some people, especially those who are autistic, dohave a flat emotional affect, do rely on scripts and do have a clear-cut sense of justice which leads them to cut off those who transgress it. When we talk about these traits as inhuman and robotic, what are we implying about the people who display them? The impulse to be unapologetic about... See more

Also, psychedelics have a fundamental discordance with allopathic research which can never be overcome. The placebo problem is unsolvable. And these medicines are customarily adjacent to non-directive therapy, and ongoing integration. We'll never be able to quantify those things in a trial format the same we we can for a blood pressure pill.... See more

Many scientific theories assume constructs that are not directly observable (muons, genetic drift) but whose existence is inferred. In mental health research, psychiatric diagnoses play such a role. We assume that constructs, such as schizophrenia or alcohol use disorder, exist but we can only observe the signs, symptoms, and course of illness that... See more

We psychiatrists tend to start our first sessions with some variant of the question: “What would you like to change?” People often list negative goals: to be less depressed, stop using drugs, feel less anxious, etc. It’s a start, but we often need more. There is a helpful reframing found in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: no dead person’s goals.... See more

People who are miserable are ugly and unapproachable and have a “victim mindset” because they can’t accept that it is all their own fault, and therefore they are bad. People who are happy must be strong and living virtuous lives full of beauty and tradition. People who are not must therefore be weak and moral failures. This framework of logic makes... See more

IFS illuminates the mind's landscape as a mosaic of distinct parts, each with its own voice, identity, and role to play. This concept resonates with our daily experiences; we often catch ourselves saying, "A part of me wants this, but another part of me wants that." Addiction can amplify this internal dialogue, making it feel like an alien force... See more

At the core of it seems to be a belief that you - the patient, the self-healer, the consumer - are not the problem, and everyone else is toxic, or a narcissist, or an abuser. You are just vibrating at a higher frequency than they are. Everyone is out to get you. Crucially, the customer is always right.

With that investigative spirit, Halsted had embarked on experiments with cocaine—then touted as a wonder drug—with a group of colleagues in 1884. Submitting themselves as test subjects, they explored the drug's pain-numbing abilities by injecting it into their peripheral nerves. In doing so, they would advance the concept of local anesthetic, a... See more

Szaszians hold on to a fantasy where an objective definition of “disorder” not only exists, but it also successfully covers recognized disorders in general medicine while conveniently excluding mental illnesses as faux-disorders. Szaszians also commit themselves to some version of the idea that medical authority only applies to genuine disorders,... See more