BBC article: Are Iranian schoolgirls being poisoned by toxic gas?, 2023 (quotes Wessely)

Wessely says Iranian girls' symptoms are probably "mass sociogenic illness".

This would appear to be a serious statement, when Iranian girls are being excluded from school:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-64829798

"Prof Simon Wessely, a psychiatrist and epidemiologist at King's College London, said several "key epidemiological factors" led him to believe these were not a chain of poisonings, but were instead a case of "mass sociogenic illness" - in which symptoms spread among a group with no obvious biomedical cause.

The spread of cases across the country and the fact it has been predominantly affecting schoolgirls, but not boys or adults, were central to his conclusion, he said. The nature of the symptoms and the fact patients quickly recovered were also key, he said."

I find these uninformed claims incredibly dangerous in the current situation in Iran.

 

err... the schools are single sex, how would boys be affected in an all girls school

I thought psychiatrists were not supposed to diagnose from a distance

 

Alternatively, girls are affected because the poisoners intend to target girl's schools to achieve their political aims, which may include punishing teenagers for participating in anti-regime protests.

 

Wessely and Khamenei are a well-matched pair, not sure which of them is the fiercer defender of their ideology.

 

Girls are supposed to be the target of this, not boys.

And if this is not poisoning what if it is an intelligent strategy on the part of these girls to draw world attention to their plight?

It has always seemed to me that many psychiatrists treat other human beings as playthings.
A few are grown ups, but not those that come out with this sort of insulting rubbish.

 

Anything for publicity.

 

I'm not sure whether this was included in the original version, but it also says:

"Most cases have been at girls' schools. There have also been some reports of teachers and schoolboys affected, along with parents who have arrived at the scene."

 

It has definitely been changed since my initial posting, because it now says:

"The spread of cases across the country and the fact it has been predominantly affecting schoolgirls, with fewer boys and adults falling ill, were central to his conclusion, he said."

 

The ignorance of this man is astounding. Women, especially youth, have been the driving force of the recent protests in Iran. The government is very much targeting them, to punish and terrorize. And not even knowing that schools are segregated.

It's ignorant of politics, frankly of anything outside his small bubble universe. And in dismissing similar issues from 9/11 he is making quite a coterie of awful characters whose interests he defends, even if unwittingly.

And then of course there's the whole diagnosis at a distance, without seeing any data. It shows how morally and intellectually bankrupt psychosomatic medicine is, it truly is what medicine looks like when it's completely devoid of humanity, compassion and respect.

 

Reports mention difficulty breathing. Not being able to breathe is definitely what the crude idea of the "fight-or-flight" system is all about. You have seconds to act. Acting fast is critical to survival. There are gases that are very good at making breathing impossible, they are meant to cause chaos and terror.

One can call it panic if they want, but they sure as hell would be just as "panicked" if it happened to them. This is one reason why waterboarding is so awful. It doesn't cause any injury, but you can't fight reflexes, evolution would obviously not allow for a basic autonomic system to be affected by conscious thought. Such as feature would be weeded out by evolution, in the form of, you know, death.

Also, teachers were affected. But teachers at girl schools would obviously be women so I guess that still works out with the "women be hysterical" logical fallacy championed by our BPS overlords, which are revolting in any context.

Video report:
https://twitter.com/user/status/1632847342058586121

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1632875685470519297

 

And the person who tweeted this seems to be a psychiatrist himself (a forensic one).

 

Reference to "Mass Hysteria" was removed from the article

https://twitter.com/user/status/1632906952085831681

 

It’s the concept that causes offence, not the sodding term.

 

I don't really understand this. Wouldn't the kinds of people SW is usually trying to impress and cosy up to be appalled by or trying to distance themselves from these kinds of comments? Who is the intended audience for these comments?

 

I like the spelling of SW's name in this tweet.