Wessely gets touchy feely

[Estherbot]

ICYMI Sir Professor Simon Wessely got all misty eyed on Twitter




James Coyne was not impressed

 

[Esther12]

He's the philosopher-king of British psychiatry.

 

[Wonko]

Patient - I've broken my leg
SW - What was it about your relationship with your mother that made you feel you had to break your leg today?
Patient - What are you talking about? I'm in a great deal of pain and can't stand or walk to find a real doctor.
SW - I understand, what do you think has caused your perception that you cannot walk at this time?
Patient - I have a broken leg and am unable to seek assistance from a real doctor!
SW - I don't have to put up with this abuse and harassment from the likes of you!!

edit - actually if this had been worded to suggest that the broken leg had been caused by SW's hypothetical Bentley careering into the pedestrian patient, and the conversation was on that basis, it would probably have be truer to reality of the situation.

Sorry - I'll try harder next time.

 

[Sean]

 

[Helen]

Hmmm. The tweets replying to that one are worth reading as well as other links from SW´s tweets.

Edit: photo and related text deleted

 

[Estherbot]

Andy Fugard, a social science lecturer at Birkbeck College picked out some class lines from the source material.

 

[large donner]

Psychiatrists are doctors who feel with their mind and think with their soul

Not scientific then!

 

[large donner]

psychiatry in comparison is like building and flying a rocket to rescue a soul lost in the unchartered reaches of outer space

Ah now I get it, psychiatry is science fiction!

 

[Estherbot]

Some replies to Imperial Lord Wess

 

[Wonko]

Ah now I get it, psychiatry is science fiction!

Well no, eventually a lot of things in science fiction actually happen, granted relative few US towns have been eaten by a large blob in the last few years, but other things, like tablets, mobile phones, cheese in a can, the world being ruled by lizards in skin suits - they may have actually happened.

edit - to clarify - I am saying that in my opinion science fiction has, over time, more chance of having aspects of it emerge into reality, than psychiatry does - that it's more "real".

 

[Alvin]

Patient - I've broken my leg
SW - What was it about your relationship with your mother that made you feel you had to break your leg today?
Patient - What are you talking about? I'm in a great deal of pain and can't stand or walk to find a real doctor.
SW - I understand, what do you think has caused your perception that you cannot walk at this time?
Patient - I have a broken leg and am unable to seek assistance from a real doctor!
SW - I don't have to put up with this abuse and harassment from the likes of you!!

This is a great macrocosm of the problem

Well no, eventually a lot of things in science fiction actually happen, granted relative few US towns have been eaten by a large blob in the last few years, but other things, like tablets, mobile phones, cheese in a can, the world being ruled by lizards in skin suits - they may have actually happened.

I disagree, the lizard one makes no sense, lizards aren't slimey enough

 

[Ysabelle-S]

I'm sure feeling with their mind and thinking with their soul was what that profession were up to with conversion therapy. I won't forget what they did to my other community.

 

[Hoopoe]

Andy Fugard, a social science lecturer at Birkbeck College picked out some class lines from the source material.

Sounds like self-esteem is a bit lacking and like a call to raise barriers between the discipline of psychiatry and the lay public. After all, only the elite can understand why, for example, the PACE trial is a thing of beauty.

 

[Andy]

Hmmm. The tweets replying to that one are worth reading as well as other links from SW´s tweets. I hesitated to post this picture, but as it was linked to by himself, and also for all ( I have no words) for what he is causing PWME it should be OK, I think. Just tell me if I went too far.

Hi Helen. I'm not talking in any official capacity here, but I'm personally uneasy about the use of that photo. SW deserves all the criticism that we can put his way but I'd prefer for it not to look like we are dragging his family into it.

 

[Helen]

Hi @Andy , photo deleted. I guess I´m still too upset from a GP´s visit in my home, me on the sofa, some months ago. Before she even asked me about my story and actual condition, she claimed that CBT and GET would be good for me. It´s not only in the UK...

 

[Estherbot]

This came to mind too

“He [Dr. Wessely] added, “’I remember being told that I would be wasted in psychiatry because I was too smart. What that says is that mentally ill patients only deserve crap doctors.'”

https://www.madinamerica.com/2016/03/psychiatry-bashing/

 

[Andy]

Hi @Andy , photo deleted. I guess I´m still too upset from a GP´s visit in my home, me on the sofa, some months ago. Before she even asked me about my story and actual condition, she claimed that CBT and GET would be good for me. It´s not only in the UK...

Thank you I'm sorry you've experienced that, change can't come soon enough.

 

[TiredSam]

Wesseley wants to say this:

I'm cleverer than everybody else, and far too clever for psychiatry, but despite that I have unselfishly decided to save mentally ill patients from other psychiatrists, who are all crapper than me. It's a complete waste of my talent, but it's something I decided to do for others because I'm such a super chap.

Realising that some might find it a bit unpalatable, he kindly reframes it thus:

“He [Dr. Wessely] added, “’I remember being told that I would be wasted in psychiatry because I was too smart. What that says is that mentally ill patients only deserve crap doctors.'”

Now it is a third person saying how smart he is ("I was told ...") so that he can shrug in self-effacing fashion about being the great saviour of the mentally ill.

 

[large donner]

“He [Dr. Wessely] What that says is that mentally ill patients only deserve crap doctors.'”

So he agreed and went into psychiatry.

 

[Alvin]

“He [Dr. Wessely] added, “’I remember being told that I would be wasted in psychiatry because I was too smart. What that says is that mentally ill patients only deserve crap doctors.'”

Justifying doing harm while lying about it does not make it ok, no matter how "noble" one claims their origins to be.
If one is truly that smart they should be able to see the pain they are purposely inducing instead of victim blaming then inflicting more harm while pretending they are offering legitimate treatments.