“What is the point of all this nastiness?”

In a recent ‘Real Psychiatry’ blog post, Dr George Dawson, MD, provided a helpful summary diagram on aspects of the ‘Professional identity of a Psychiatrist’ which included the above list of ‘interpersonal skills’.

At the start of this month a “twitter spat” occurred involving a senior Canadian Psychiatrist, Dr Tyler Black, MD, who has become a prominent voice on social media. The brother of this psychiatrist posted on Twitter his support for his brother using these terms: “motherf***ers”, “ridiculous shit”, “loosers” and “woo peddlers”.

Professor Wendy Burn, the President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, in sharing this Twitter thread said: “What is the point of all this nastiness?”

Dr Tyler Black, MD, reminded his followers of his “blocking criteria”, the first category of which was “[communicating] with a disrespectful tone”.

On the 9th November 2019, the President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, posted that the Twitter account of Dr Tyler Black, MD, is “well worth following” [and concluded her endorsement with a thumbs up emoticon].

We are now at the end of the same month, and during this time, Dr Tyler Black has used the following words in relation to fellow mental health professionals:

  • “jerks”
  • “awful”
  • “I’m not sure where you get your PhD from”
  • “boringly predictable”
  • “intellectually vapid”
  • “peudointellectual garbage”

 

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