Snow And Two Psych Blogs

It's snowing in Seattle Wednesday night, almost two inches on the ground in my neighborhood where for the last few days all the side streets have been an icy mess. It was a great day to stay in and write, so I did. On another project. As a result I only have one formal post and this one, introducing you all to a couple of other blogs in the mental health world. Both are written by real live MDs.

The first, The Last Psychiatrist, is authored by an anonymous academic in the psych world. It is well-reasoned, authoritative, funny as hell at times, and even in the few places were I have quibbles with the author, his arguments are persuasive enough to make me ponder my stances all over again. I bet he's a damn good clinical professor. Assuming that that's what he does for a day job.

I won't even get into his insightful posts. He can be quite critical of the psych world, which warms my burned cinder of a heart no end. It's a blog you should add to your newsreader. OK, read this post about the biggest mistakes psych docs make.

The second, CorePsych, is authored by Charles Parker, a psychiatrist in private practice back East, who also has his fingers in a lot of pies. His blog takes the tough world of neuroscience and breaks it into the real world we all think in. He's also funny, too, and a fly fisherman and came of age doing day labor. That tells me a lot. As does his honest reassessment of the Tom Cruise/Matt Lauer snarlfest last year:

"Yes, he was disrespectful not only with Matt, but his own friends. But let's face it without new information, without a public dialog about science, we all fight over that recovery path.

And yes, Tom is right on an important element: People are having problems with meds and we need alternatives. Faith, spiritual practice, is an essential part of any recovery process. And we do need to know more about the meds.

Now it's time to move on, beyond beliefs into facts. Psychiatry is loaded with useful scientific information: science works, if you work it."

I, too, think Cruise was off-base with his "history of psychiatry" but was right that there are big problems out there. Mostly, though, I was disturbed by how he was attacked by my colleagues in the media, whom I wish had more respect for a free market of ideas. Even if it's coming out of the mouth of ol' Maverick and L. Ron Hubbard.