Three recent items for your consideration:
Psychiatry in the Public Square. As if in response to my post asking for post suggestions, this essay appeared. The author, Adrian Preda, argues:
Psychiatry and mental illness remain inadequately represented in public discourse, and when they do appear, the representations are often partial, distorted, and repetitive.
He offers “four principles of engagement”:
Visibility. “Psychiatry needs to be present where the public already is—not only in newspapers and medical journals, but on podcasts, YouTube, social media, and the other platforms that increasingly function as people’s primary sources of health information.”
Correction. “When mental illness or psychiatric treatment is portrayed inaccurately—as they regularly are—psychiatry should react quickly, clearly, and constructively.”
Education. “Beyond correcting myths, psychiatry should proactively use media to provide practical, accessible information.”
Collaboration. “Psychiatry cannot improve its public presence by speaking alone.”
I am trying! (It is also true that I am ambivalent.)
Thanks to those of you who responded to my request for suggestions. I may not have the largest audience, but it seems that I have a devoted one. Thanks the gifts of your ongoing attention.
Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning. Please be generous and share this. Here’s a 1:20 video that covers the same information, but it induces way more anxiety than the article.
“I Feel Good”: The Many Flaws of the Wellness Movement. Arthur Caplan is a giant within bioethics. This article is a book review, but he throws in plenty of grouchy editorial comments. His opinions about the wellness industry are clear.
He rightly points out:
… proponents of wellness have one thing in common—it is up to you to do something. Social determinants and economic conditions that drive health just don’t get much attention.
And even when it is up to you to do something, the wellness industry tends to gloss over the unsexy basics: Sleep enough. Eat just enough. Get outside and exercise every day. Cultivate and maintain relationships. These activities don’t sound as alluring as putting a stone egg in your vagina. (Look who’s grouchy now?)
Caplan closes his essay with sound and exhausting counsel: “Being well means taking steps to change your behavior and demanding the EPA go back to its mission of protecting you from pollution and environmental hazards.”
Maria Yang, MD 