A clear and present danger?

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I think I might have to diagnose these psychiatrists with TDS... Trump Derangement Syndrome. :p
A fairly new, yet relatively common condition in which the fear and loathing of a certain obnoxious orange-haired president causes otherwise rationale people to do and say stupid things.
 
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I'm not going to violate the Goldwater rule with diagnostic speculation here, but it seems with Trump that what you see is what you get. Sure, he is thin-skinned, vindictive, whines about unfairness whenever things don't go his way, goes off-script, and acts impulsively, but it's not like there was any false advertising during the campaign about any of that.
 
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Nothing says legitimate like blurring your politics with your profession.
 
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OldPsychDoc said:
I'm getting to the point where, because of the adverse effects of political policy upon my patients, it becomes my professional duty to speak out on politics.
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You are highly respected so I offer this advice with the greatest degree of deference: If you want to speak out on politics, run for office. I think we need many more physicians in political roles. As a baby doctor, I would shy away from making political statements at work or with my patients.
 
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ExcaliburPrime1 said:
You are highly respected so I offer this advice with the greatest degree of deference: If you want to speak out on politics, run for office. I think we need many more physicians in political roles. As a baby doctor, I would shy away from making political statements at work or with my patients.
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Depends on what you mean by politics. I once had an intake patient tell me that I wasn't allowed to ask about about gun possession. Hmmm.. the patient would rather that I commit malpractice.

Or the patient who complains about you bringing in politics when you point out their racism.

Or the patient who spends all appointment complaining, barely ever leaves the house, generally treats other people poorly, and views the world in a rigid black/white lens. They complain about "snowflakes" with different political views, and when you try to use Socratic questioning to see if they can think of any alternative cognitions...
 
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mopsych said:
Nothing says legitimate like blurring your politics with your profession.
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ExcaliburPrime1 said:
You are highly respected so I offer this advice with the greatest degree of deference: If you want to speak out on politics, run for office. I think we need many more physicians in political roles. As a baby doctor, I would shy away from making political statements at work or with my patients.
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I always hear about the bio-psycho-social model.

Politics include subjects that relate directly to a patient's social and economic welfare, including access to healthcare.

The expertise of healthcare practitioners directs some aspects of policy, such as the American Lung Association pushing for regulations on cigarettes in the 1950s.

In some cases the CDC basically cops position statements put out by medical associations as their own.

If people are dying from cigarettes, what would the difference be if doctors spoke out about other forms of harm, like car accidents, gun deaths, lack of access to healthcare, etc.?
 
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I don't see how you could work in healthcare and not speak out on politics, no matter which side you are on, especially if you work in mental health. Healthcare has become one of the top political issues, and the decisions enacted can and will affect our patient populations. Particularly our patient populations. If anything, more doctoral level professionals, especially those who don't think the pyramids were giant granaries, should be active and involved in politics.
 
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ExcaliburPrime1 said:
You are highly respected so I offer this advice with the greatest degree of deference: If you want to speak out on politics, run for office. I think we need many more physicians in political roles. As a baby doctor, I would shy away from making political statements at work or with my patients.
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I agree that talking politics at work or with patients (except where it has some clear clinical relevance) is typically inappropriate. We should all be able to show up to work, or show up as patients to a doctor's office, and feel comfortable and respected there. Lots of loud political opinions can disrupt that.

Still, I think there is a middle ground between preaching politics at work and running for office. We have special expertise on healthcare-related topics, and I think speaking out in our private lives, or through professional organizations when relevant, is a good thing.
 
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If you are a little left of Bernie, or a little right of Trump, you probably do have a fairly good sized hole in your reality testing and antipsychotics may be indicated. Everyone else between Bernie and Trump probably deserves our efforts to remain culturally competent enough to be able to deal with them as patients. I’m not saying agree with them, just understand their arguments and even if they are trapped in their own bubble, be aware that this is their reality and their experience.

I know a psychiatrist that seems obsessed with yelling at his TV while watching Fox News. Probably not good for his blood pressure and somewhat maladaptive, but adaptive on some level for him none the less.

If listening to the patients at the VA talking about how great Trump is grates on your nerves, Amazon has a Trump voodoo doll you can hide in your desk and torture between patients. This would be a fairly primitive undoing defense, but if it helps….
 
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MacDonaldTriad said:
If you are a little left of Bernie, or a little right of Trump, you probably do have a fairly good sized hole in your reality testing and antipsychotics may be indicated. Everyone else between Bernie and Trump probably deserves our efforts to remain culturally competent enough to be able to deal with them as patients.
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So would you give antipsychotics to Vladimir Lenin? The guy was certifiably sane. I think it is actually the vast middle ground in which most people who cannot reason well are found, and certainly, almost no one with a severe psychotic disorder can follow politics well enough to convincingly claim that they belong to either extreme. Maybe you could argue that the far right is paranoid. Still, it would be tough to show that they're "psychotic."
 
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smalltownpsych said:
I think I might have to diagnose these psychiatrists with TDS... Trump Derangement Syndrome. :p
A fairly new, yet relatively common condition in which the fear and loathing of a certain obnoxious orange-haired president causes otherwise rationale people to do and say stupid things.
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You could omit either of the first two words. It's redundant.
 
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Pathologizing people because you don’t agree with their politics (extremists aside) sounds pretty discriminatory. Especially in a field where we are taught to remain open-minded and respectful of other viewpoints.
 
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I was going to say that I don't even know what to the right of Trump would mean. Or to be to the left of him. He doesn't have a defined point on any continuum I can think of. I don't think he's really that interested in having one, either.

I also support free-trade. I think of it as a progressive value. It's lifted millions out of poverty in the developing world. It's also an excellent impediment to a world in which conflict are solved with military force.
 
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Yale psychiatrist briefed members of Congress on President Trump's mental fitness - CNNPolitics

"Lee said his threats to ramp up military action and the taunting an unstable leader in North Korean Leader Kim Jung Un are all signs of the President being on the verge of a psychotic breakdown."

As someone using psychiatry as her credential to make such a statement, it does not exactly bode well for the credibility of the field.

I'm just a layman, but I wouldn't confuse psychosis with anything you have been able to publicly see Trump do.

In this context, "verge of psychotic breakdown" sounds about as technical as, "I think his head's gonna explode like a volcano!"
 
birchswing said:
Yale psychiatrist briefed members of Congress on President Trump's mental fitness - CNNPolitics

"Lee said his threats to ramp up military action and the taunting an unstable leader in North Korean Leader Kim Jung Un are all signs of the President being on the verge of a psychotic breakdown."

As someone using psychiatry as her credential to make such a statement, it does not exactly bode well for the credibility of the field.

I'm just a layman, but I wouldn't confuse psychosis with anything you have been able to publicly see Trump do.

In this context, "verge of psychotic breakdown" sounds about as technical as, "I think his head's gonna explode like a volcano!"
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I am going to speculate here, and not about Trump specifically but about the Yale psychiatrist. "Psychotic" doesn't have a 100% agreed upon definition. While the usually psychiatric environment takes that to mean what you have, e.g. indicating a chronic psychotic disorder like schizophrenia or psychotic depression, a psychoanalyst for instance would use the word quite differently. Psychotic would me reality testing that isn't in tact, and there are people who are organized at a psychotic level who don't have overt chronic delusions, hallucinations, disorganization, or mood episodes with these features. I don't like the language use here, but I also respect that she is talking to Congress and not people with special education on mental health.
 
thoffen said:
I am going to speculate here, and not about Trump specifically but about the Yale psychiatrist. "Psychotic" doesn't have a 100% agreed upon definition. While the usually psychiatric environment takes that to mean what you have, e.g. indicating a chronic psychotic disorder like schizophrenia or psychotic depression, a psychoanalyst for instance would use the word quite differently. Psychotic would me reality testing that isn't in tact, and there are people who are organized at a psychotic level who don't have overt chronic delusions, hallucinations, disorganization, or mood episodes with these features. I don't like the language use here, but I also respect that she is talking to Congress and not people with special education on mental health.
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Speaking the layman’s language for hyperbole, what a good idea! Maybe then someone can testify regarding autism and keep referencing the term antisocial so we can make better connections there, too.
 
birchswing said:
"Lee said his threats to ramp up military action and the taunting an unstable leader in North Korean Leader Kim Jung Un are all signs of the President being on the verge of a psychotic breakdown."

As someone using psychiatry as her credential to make such a statement, it does not exactly bode well for the credibility of the field.

I'm just a layman, but I wouldn't confuse psychosis with anything you have been able to publicly see Trump do.

In this context, "verge of psychotic breakdown" sounds about as technical as, "I think his head's gonna explode like a volcano!"
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Agree completely. I was talking to a psychiatrist friend about this specific statement of hers yesterday. I have seen nothing that would indicate Trump is psychotic, and new onset psychosis at his age would be very rare. She would maintain more credibility if she had said he may be displaying signs of early dementia or ADHD or narcissism, but of course that would not have been as sensational. These kinds of hyperbolic, and obviously politically driven, comments are not good for our field. When Trump does not end up in the hospital with a psychotic episode the public will believe that psychiatrists do not know what they are talking about (although unfortunately quite a few do not.)
 
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st2205 said:
Speaking the layman’s language for hyperbole, what a good idea! Maybe then someone can testify regarding autism and keep referencing the term antisocial so we can make better connections there, too.
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Yeah...you have a point there. A really good one. I do maintain that a psychoanalytic definition of psychotic organization could be an appropriate meaning. Thinking about it further, I really don't see an appropriate use of the words "psychotic breakdown" in any context. The words were used by the journalist, not a direct quote from anyone. Perhaps that was the journalist's understanding and not what was literally said.
 
Bringing this to life.... seems like social media is obsessed with this Yale psychiatrist, and other psychiatrists have taken to twitter to really attach her character. Thoughts on this debate?


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DXM1 said:
Using one's title and professional position to peddle political views is a disgusting practice and should have consequences. When is the last time you saw a patient in the ER and thought "wow he is on the verge of a psychotic breakdown?". What a load of ****.
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EM doesn’t have the same political proclivities that psychiatry does.
 
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DXM1 said:
Using one's title and professional position to peddle political views is a disgusting practice and should have consequences. When is the last time you saw a patient in the ER and thought "wow he is on the verge of a psychotic breakdown?". What a load of ****.
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Ha ha, suuuure
 
Whenever the discussion of whether medical opinion should or shouldn't be political arises, I like to introduce the pudding as it were: Drapetomania.

Psychiatry is political. It has always been political. It will always be political. For the love of all that's holy read some Focault or Scott.
 
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borderlineinCle said:
Bringing this to life.... seems like social media is obsessed with this Yale psychiatrist, and other psychiatrists have taken to twitter to really attach her character. Thoughts on this debate?
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The “Yale psychiatrist” doesn’t work for Yale, by my basic search. She’s volunteer faculty. Which from talking with a Yale psych alum, they hand out like Pez to any psychiatrist in the greater New Haven area.

I’m not arguing her her politics (I keep nominating the staff member who moves a hands-washing placard in front of Trump’s posted photo at our VA for employee-of-the-month to no avail). But it does highlight that programs need to be careful who they give out volunteer faculty to, as folks will run with it in directions that may not help your medical school.
 
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