It was interesting to read Professor Pies considerations on “Antipsychiatry” and his linkage of this with the “chemical imbalance trope” [Psychiatric Times, 2nd August 2019] Like Professor Pies I am … Continue reading ‘The mutability of the past’
Many years ago, one of my patients who had lost a child to suicide, wrote to me to say: Some years later I read this: I have previously shared considerations … Continue reading Kindness, attention and respect
In this old film of mine, which considers my experience of the selective-serotonin-reuptake inhibitor, SEROXAT, I said at one point: “People don’t believe a word I say” This was a … Continue reading “People don’t believe a word I say”
This was listed as the second most popular joke in the Edinburgh Festival for 2019.
Last month I wrote to the Lead for the National Suicide Prevention Strategy for England. The current lead, Professor Louis Appleby, has a prominent social media presence and naturally many … Continue reading National Suicide Prevention Strategy
There was an interesting article about approaches taken to leadership roles in yesterday’s Guardian newspaper. The article was entitled “Unlocking Power”. On reading the article my mind returned to a … Continue reading ‘Unlocking Power’
The following account of my experience of trying to stop an antidepressant features in today’s Daily Mail. This did not feel a comfortable thing to share in a national newspaper … Continue reading It is by living that we learn
The words in this piece on antidepressant prescribing come from the novel ‘Grace Notes’ by Bernard MacLaverty. This novel was published the same year that I was started on an … Continue reading ‘They say no’
You may read this title and wonder who said it? If you have come across my blog before it would be reasonable to consider that it was said by me! … Continue reading “Excessive claims by drug firms”
The Medical Model in Mental Health: An Explanation and Evaluation has recently been published by Oxford University Press. In the weeks leading up to publication the author stated “it is … Continue reading “Strong argument”
It is now more than 3 years since I heard the above presentation at this Continuing Medical Education (CME) event: Dr Christmas considered the over- and under- prescribing of antidepressants … Continue reading “It’s an outrage!”
I began training in psychiatry in October 1993 just after the “Defeat Depression Campaign” had been launched. It ran alongside the five years of my training. This “Campaign” had the … Continue reading My career began with the “Defeat Depression Campaign”