Fascinating discussion. Not surprising that he sees adolescents as being psychologically over-medicalized, and I definitely see the tie-in with medicalizing gender identity. I think parents who listen who have teens on psychiatric drugs would have a lot to chew on and think through!
I appreciate this comment, Peavy. Yes, it can be challenging to discover that medicalization of trans identities may be just another presentation of an already existing problem in our approach to mental health. Though I also think other mental health professionals who are more well-known among parents in our situation have subtly hinted at this. I think much like the professionals who risk the repercussions to push back on gender medicine, Dr. McFillin does the same when it comes to medicating "the human experience."
And I've just been cued in to this 2013 book "Cracked" by James Davies. It reiterates much of what Dr McFillin talks about, with an understanding of the capitalist underpinnings that got us here. This book review provides a summary.
It's an article from 2000 on people who want to be amputees, but is relevant to what Dr McFillin says in this podcast.
From the article: "I am simplifying a very complex and subtle argument, but the basic idea should be clear. By regarding a phenomenon as a psychiatric diagnosis—treating it, reifying it in psychiatric diagnostic manuals, developing instruments to measure it, inventing scales to rate its severity, establishing ways to reimburse the costs of its treatment, encouraging pharmaceutical companies to search for effective drugs, directing patients to support groups, writing about possible causes in journals—psychiatrists may be unwittingly colluding with broader cultural forces to contribute to the spread of a mental disorder."
"One does not have to imagine a cunning cult leader to envision alarming numbers of desperate people asking to have their limbs removed. One has only to imagine the right set of historical and cultural conditions." I think the concept of a psychiatric disorder arising out of an "ecological niche" is as relevant as it gets. Calling this cultural moment, "the perfect storm" that led to our children adopting trans identities is validated completely by this article.
Such a fascinating look at human nature and the power of cultural forces to shape our understanding of our selves and our reality, including the psyche of the doctors who collude. Is this one of those patterns of human nature that is doomed to repeat? It seems to me a desperate way to create meaning and purpose in a life that lacks it. McFillin often speaks of the problems that arise when we have too much focus on ourselves. It also makes me think of Lisa Marchiano's comments at the end of her last interview with Benjamin Boyce about how we need to recognize the religious function of our own psyches and be intentional in what we choose to serve. We all live in service to something. She quotes David Foster Wallace:
"There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship [...] is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly..."
And Jung, "The gods have become diseases; Zeus no longer rules Olympus but rather the solar plexus, and produces curious specimens for the doctor's consulting room, or disorders the brains of politicians and journalists who unwittingly let loose psychic epidemics on the world"
Fascinating discussion. Not surprising that he sees adolescents as being psychologically over-medicalized, and I definitely see the tie-in with medicalizing gender identity. I think parents who listen who have teens on psychiatric drugs would have a lot to chew on and think through!
I appreciate this comment, Peavy. Yes, it can be challenging to discover that medicalization of trans identities may be just another presentation of an already existing problem in our approach to mental health. Though I also think other mental health professionals who are more well-known among parents in our situation have subtly hinted at this. I think much like the professionals who risk the repercussions to push back on gender medicine, Dr. McFillin does the same when it comes to medicating "the human experience."
And I've just been cued in to this 2013 book "Cracked" by James Davies. It reiterates much of what Dr McFillin talks about, with an understanding of the capitalist underpinnings that got us here. This book review provides a summary.
https://www.counterfire.org/articles/book-reviews/23449-cracked-why-psychiatry-is-doing-more-harm-than-good-book-review
Bringing over an article shared in the comment section of the Q&A portion of this podcast: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/12/a-new-way-to-be-mad/304671/
It's an article from 2000 on people who want to be amputees, but is relevant to what Dr McFillin says in this podcast.
From the article: "I am simplifying a very complex and subtle argument, but the basic idea should be clear. By regarding a phenomenon as a psychiatric diagnosis—treating it, reifying it in psychiatric diagnostic manuals, developing instruments to measure it, inventing scales to rate its severity, establishing ways to reimburse the costs of its treatment, encouraging pharmaceutical companies to search for effective drugs, directing patients to support groups, writing about possible causes in journals—psychiatrists may be unwittingly colluding with broader cultural forces to contribute to the spread of a mental disorder."
"One does not have to imagine a cunning cult leader to envision alarming numbers of desperate people asking to have their limbs removed. One has only to imagine the right set of historical and cultural conditions." I think the concept of a psychiatric disorder arising out of an "ecological niche" is as relevant as it gets. Calling this cultural moment, "the perfect storm" that led to our children adopting trans identities is validated completely by this article.
Such a fascinating look at human nature and the power of cultural forces to shape our understanding of our selves and our reality, including the psyche of the doctors who collude. Is this one of those patterns of human nature that is doomed to repeat? It seems to me a desperate way to create meaning and purpose in a life that lacks it. McFillin often speaks of the problems that arise when we have too much focus on ourselves. It also makes me think of Lisa Marchiano's comments at the end of her last interview with Benjamin Boyce about how we need to recognize the religious function of our own psyches and be intentional in what we choose to serve. We all live in service to something. She quotes David Foster Wallace:
"There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship [...] is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly..."
And Jung, "The gods have become diseases; Zeus no longer rules Olympus but rather the solar plexus, and produces curious specimens for the doctor's consulting room, or disorders the brains of politicians and journalists who unwittingly let loose psychic epidemics on the world"