Thread by @julianorobertrj

.@aliceclearman
.@DrSherrill

Thank you both for responding so generously to my request to get your opinions of 7.3. I will spend some time contributing my own thoughts and responding to yours. While this response will be piecemeal, ...

... I will keep it in a single thread so that the "unroll" command can be used.

Part 1: DSM
The 1st thing I want to cover is the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). I, personally, do not like it because of its seemingly arbitrary classification of certain

... mental conditions as unhealthy. The best example I have for this is the work that Dr. John Beebe did on the latest version of the manual.

He is an authority on an aspect of Jungian psychology called psychological types. He was one of my teachers when I was working on my doctoral degree in depth psychology.

He served on the board which made decisions on what was to be included in the DSM.

One of the conditions that was slated to be in the DSM was what Jung referred to as the psychological attitude of introversion. Being an introvert was going to be classified as a mental health problem! Long story short, Dr. Beebe prevented that from happening, thank heaven!

My cohort in the doctoral program in depth psychology hated the DSM so much that one of our members referred to it as the "Malleus Maleficarum," a 15th century text for the identification, interrogation, and classification of witches.
books.google.com/books?id=8NE7A…

Before ending this short response on the DSM, you should know that I have severe concerns about how we classify a given mental or psychological condition as healthy or unhealthy. If you have read R.D. Laing's "Politics of Experience," you'll understand why
books.google.com/books/about/Th…

Part II: Applicability of APA 7.3

I realize that APA stands for American Psychiatric Association, and thus, 7.3 only applies to psychiatrists and not psychologists. Furthermore, as Dr. Bandy Lee and others have stressed, violation of 7.3 does NOT result in the withdrawal of

... ones medical license or license to practice psychiatry. Of course we should recognize that not being a member of the APA due to violation of 7.3 could hurt one's practice.

Part III: A Layperson's Judgement on 7.3

I have never understood why the APA took such an extreme response in adding 7.3 to its principles of medical ethics. Yes, Goldwater sued and won, received reasonable damages, and

... the publication "Fact" was either heavily damaged or went out of business. But, that does not explain why the APA took such an overly hard stand here.

So, with those initial topics out of the way, let me read both of your positions again and I will respond in this thread.

Part IV: Duty2Warn and the Dangers of Politicizing Mental/Psychological Health

Let me begin this part by saying that I am in complete agreement that, with respect to Trump, duty2warn supersedes 7.3. The American people need experienced experts to inform them of the ...

... dangers involved in the deterioration in the president's mental/psychological health. As you rightly observe, they are hearing some of this from unqualified persons such as journalists, pundits, etc. which is causing the greatest of confusion.

Furthermore, why is discussing the president's physical health allowed but not the president's mental or psychological health? I mean, we can have a CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta opine about the president's physical health based upon the data we received from the president's doctor.

So, to summarize, I completely agree that we need experts, experienced experts, to debrief the American people on the president's mental and psychological health. Having said all of this, there is significant danger in doing so.

The danger that I see is the politicization of mental and psychological health. Imagine if the Republicans were to have provided "experts" who, day after day, questioned the mental and psychological health of President Obama?

That would not have exactly been a Grey Poupon or tan suit moment! So, while I see the urgent need for experts to keep everyone informed on the president's mental and psychological health, I am ambivalent about the whole thing because it could lead to the future politicization

... of the mental and psychological health of this country's leaders.

@threadreaderapp unroll