A Myth in Creation

Some reflections in a piece for CLOSLER on looking at success in academic medicine through the lens of virtue ethics.

I was lucky to see a screening copy of the documentary Medicating Normal (2020, directors: Lynn Cunningham & Wendy Ractliffe) earlier this weekend, and this post is intended partly as a review and partly as a way of organizing my preliminary thoughts and reactions to it. As described by the filmmakers : “ Medicating Normal is the untold story of what can happen when profit-driven medicine intersects with human beings in distress.” The film is well-made and remarkable. It is engaging and rewards emotional investment. The focus of the documentary is on the harms of psychiatric medications, the harms these medications can do while one is taking them, and the harms these medications can do when one tries to stop taking them or has stopped taking them. The documentary primarily focuses on the stories and experiences of five individuals who took psychiatric medications and experienced derailment of their lives. There are also interviews with various authors/commentators/expe...

Recently I've been thinking about Reformation, the 16th century Christian movement in Europe led by Luther. As commonly understood, this movement "posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in particular to papal authority, arising from what was perceived to be errors, abuses, and discrepancies by the Catholic Church" ( wikipedia ). Prior to Reformation, under the Catholic Church, scripture and tradition were seen as equal, and scriptural interpretation took into account former commentaries as well as Church doctrine and tradition. The Catholic Church had the authority to give authentic interpretation of the Word of God, as reflected in the notion of the Roman magisterium. The common people did not read the Bible or interpret it themselves; they relied on the Church to interpret it for them. Where others saw infallibility and divine authority, Luther saw corruption. He invoked the notion of sola scriptura , challenging the authority of the c...

I was interviewed by Mad in America. We talk about my intellectual development as a psychiatrist, the interview series for Psychiatric Times , my interest in philosophy of psychiatry, and work on “conceptual competence” in psychiatric education. You can listen to the audio as well as the transcript here:  https://www.madinamerica.com/2020/07/bridging-critical-conceptual-psychiatry-interview-awais-aftab/