I don't think I've ever been alt-right.... as for shock jock, perhaps. Writing on the platform has to evoke a response and I generally say what I believe to be true. In this case, I can be compassionate to those people who genuinely struggle for whatever reason - but I cannot endorse the mass self-diagnosis becoming endemic, because it reduces compassion.

I did actually write about 'mental health' being a word game in a previous article - I think mental health should be treated far more like diabetes than it currently is - that is, being able to differentiate between what is essentially 'mental hygiene' and what is 'mental illness'. You can find it here. https://medium.com/p/d7458b0f3806

You may or may not enjoy the tone - but it is part of the way I write.

I don't think for a second anti-racist and feminist movements are being discredited by socialism. I think we have abandoned collective socialism (which would reduce the suffering of many niche groups) in favour of a niche interest pissing contest which is taking the conversation precisely nowhere and leads to circular arguments, the impression of progress, but doesn't make anything better for anyone at all. This is one of the main problems I have with the political left - I think identity politics has been a gift to the right, and the increasingly fractured and batshit ideologies coming out of the far left simply move centre ground rational thinkers towards the right.

Psychiatrists know very little of poverty or racism and I think these are big problems. I am very unimpressed with the racial imbalances in the staff and patients at the hospital. I don't think many psychiatrists have more than an inkling and the entire industry seems to be guess work and force of opinion - I work where the law meets psychiatry (often head on) on matters pertaining to the deprivation of liberty.

Thanks for the list - I shall refer to it over the next few months, but I am not a speed reader. I could choose between imbibing books at a terrifying pace or doing my cardigans up properly, I chose the latter ;o)

I don't really do substack - but I would recommend reposting the pieces on Medium and building a following here too. I don't think there's a penalty for doing so - and you will build a readership, you're intelligent, you don't give a shit about wading into discussions and you're interesting. I don't mind being disagreed with - I can hold my own but it's nice to be given a run for my money.

Keep reading. Keep writing. Keep on keeping on and write a rebuttal article to this one if you want. I'll post it on the bottom of this and direct people towards it. Nobody ever got more stupid from reading additional points. :o)