Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"In proposing that the field of psychiatry, in its broadest sense, should involve itself in the regulating the behaviors of United States Presidents, by designating them disqualified for office by their psychiatrically Not Good mentality or behavior, one is asking us to lean hard into psychiatry's social control function.

"In a sense, we just got this monster caged, and you're asking us to let it out again. Because you think we need it to fight this even bigger monster, fascism. And maybe we do. But I have to warn you, experience shows we can't really guarantee it's only going to do what you want. It's not a horse we can ride. We're not really good at steering it. It's maybe, at best, a tiger we've trained enough to do tricks in a carefully constrained arena - but which has a history of mauling people when goaded by inept hands.

"I agree that mental illness - some types, some presentations - in our elected officials is a manifest threat to the safety of our nation and the whole world, and it is absolutely something that something should be done about. It's just that I'm not convinced that it's something that psychiatry is up to doing for us."

-- siderea, "On the Goldwater Rule & the 25th: the Present Limits of Psychiatry", 2021-01-13