Yesterday I wrote about Scott Siskind who wrote a blog about psychiatry and science called Slate Star Codex and then stopped when his anonymity was threatened. There’s another psychiatrist that, too, wrote a blog, and then stopped for the same reasons as Scott. I don’t even know what’s his real name was, but the blog was called The Last Psychiatrist.
The thing that surprised me most when I was reading The Last Psychiatrist was how little I knew about psychiatry. I mean, of course, I never studied psychiatry so I don’t know much, but I didn’t think that I was so out of depths. There was a story about a boy whose school friend died. The father wrote about it online and asked for advice. Most of the people who responded wrote that he should give the boy space, let him grieve in peace. That what I would think was the right approach too. The Last Psychiatrist disagreed.
Another post was about a woman, Penelope, who was abused by her husband, and she didn’t want to leave. That’s not the surprising part — I know many abusive relationships and I know people don’t leave. But there’s a lot to unpack in this story and it was interesting to learn why she was actively looking for that kind of a relationship.
Most of the posts are like that — depressing, but eye-opening. I think I will be reading The Last Psychiatrist again.