Esther Crawley gets 'commendation' at 2017 Maddox Prize awards.

[Barry]

Yes, really. Shame is not in his vocabulary, apparently.

Not in his DNA.

 

[TiredSam]

I wonder how the other members of the advisory council managed to keep it from him until the big day. It must have been such a lovely surprise.

 

[Barry]

I wonder how the other members of the advisory council managed to keep it from him until the big day. It must have been such a lovely surprise.

Like Christmas no doubt, when you already know what's inside the wrapping, but have to feign surprise. I suppose it helps if you have lots of practice at feigning.

 

[TiredSam]

Oh you shouldn't have!

 

[guest001]

I can't reply with a 'quote' as it would mean duplicating that image. But please TiredSam... I've not long had breakfast....

 

[Inara]

Is that Simon Wessely?

 

[Trish]

Yes

 

[Inara]

Oh my gosh...

Interesting look. Interesting he's so convinced by himself.

 

[TiredSam]

Oh my gosh...

Interesting look. Interesting he's so convinced by himself.

überzeugt von sich? Full of himself

 

[Inara]

Thank you, @TiredSam always glad to learn!

 

[TiredSam]

Thank you, @TiredSam always glad to learn!

Just got home from work - still in teacher mode. I'll be back to normal when I've had a lie down.

 

[Allele]

Rest well, floppy lil superhero!

 

[arewenearlythereyet]

initially when I saw that picture I wanted to find a tom and Jerry cartoon frying pan and edit, but then I realised he has just fallen over a Christmas tree and seems to have got tangled up in the tinsel etc, which made me feel a bit better.

 

[Inara]

Interesting: Mr. Wessely wrote an article "Commentary: the psychiatry of hubris",
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1633554/

It's from 2006. It's rather a political statement. And it feels like he's saying, "Look, I am just grand, the others are dumb". It sounds a little belittling...but that's obviously ok if this is amongst "highborn". If "lowborn" (i.e. us) critisize, e.g. their "scientific" work, this is harassment.

During the Waco siege the FBI commandeered a group of psychiatrists and locked them in a hotel room until they had predicted the likely behaviour of David Koresh, the cult leader. The one thing on which they were agreed was that Koresh would not commit suicide, which is what he did. It is rumoured that the same psychiatrists later predicted that Saddam Hussein would prefer suicide to capture, which he did not. It is territory that few mental health professionals care to tread.

And now another ex-Foreign Secretary swims in the same dangerous waters. However, this is no politician using psychiatric terminology because he knows no better. As most people will know, David Owen qualified as a doctor, and came perilously close to a career in psychiatry. Indeed, if he had taken the SHO post he was offered at the Maudsley he might have ended up where I am now.

But physical health is always simpler than mental health, and now Lord Owen has gone beyond his previous studies of the physical or neurological health of the good and great, to consider their psychological make up.

Lord Owen lands some heavy blows, finding them guilty of numerous sins of pride, over-confidence and messianic zeal [...]

But which David Owen has the most telling insights: is it Owen the doctor, or Owen the politician? It must be the latter.

 

[TiredSam]

Preaching by parable and anecdote.

There was a typo in the title by the way - it should have been "Commentary: the hubris of psychiatry"

 

[Inara]

@TiredSam
Had to think twice

 

[Allele]

@TiredSam, gold stars for you!

 

[Barry]

But physical health is always simpler than mental health

i.e. "It involves all that science stuff, so it must be simpler".

Hubris is excessive pride that leads in Greek tragedy to the downfall of the hero, when he meets his nemesis. But the hubristic hero must first have carried out great deeds, which makes the subsequent nemesis all the more tragic.

A Greek hero ... hmm ... yep, I'm sure he could see himself fitting most of that description. Except the last bit of course. But that's Greek heroes for you!

 

[TiredSam]

But physical health is always simpler than mental health

That's wierd because I'm sure I read an interview of his where he implied that he could have done many great things with his fine mind but he very kindly decided to dedicate himself to psychiatry for the good of humanity, even though it was way beneath him.

I suppose it depends who he's talking to. It certainly shows what he thinks of himself. He'd give anyone else with an attitude like that a diagnosis.

 

[Viola]

Physical health might look simpler because sometimes people who know what they are doing can make something look simple even if it is not, and of course they talk more sense in physical health so "easier" to understand in a way.