Newsletter Milestone/Open Thread

I’m happy to report that Psychiatry at the Margins has crossed 3,000 total subscribers! The newsletter is read in 85 countries and 49 US states (apparently the only holdout US state is Nebraska). From what I can tell, the readership is quite diverse, with a mix of psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, philosophers, neuroscientists, physicians from other disciplines, medical students, patients/service users (including those who identify as survivors), academics from other disciplines (history, mad studies, etc.), journalists, writers, activists, as well as general readers.

For a newsletter about psychiatry and psy-disciplines that often goes into fairly technical issues, doesn’t spoon-feed readers, and is interested in examining critical issues in psychiatry without resorting to the sort of polarizing rhetoric that characterizes so much of the critical debate in and around psychiatry, I find this growth in readership reassuring.

My goal is to use this newsletter as a venue to think through complicated issues relevant to psychopathology and psychiatric practice, and to highlight good work that is being done. I don’t have all the answers; no one does. I’m not infallible; I have my own biases. The goal is neither to promote nor bash the psychiatric profession. The goal is to engage in a process of critique and reflection, and to improve our collective understanding of psychiatric phenomena.

The newsletter is interested in creating a space where dialogue between different perspectives can take place. Hence, guest posts, interviews, and features such as Mixed Bag are vital components of the newsletter. I’m very grateful to everyone who has contributed and to everyone who has engaged with the posts.

If you’d like to support the newsletter, consider becoming a paid subscriber (currently around 2% of subscribers are paid). Most of the content is public (and will remain public). Paid subscribers can access some exclusive content (such as this and this) and comment on all posts, in case these perks seal the deal for you. If you are a trainee/student or a patient/service user and a subscription would be onerous, just send me an email, and you will have complimentary access, no questions asked.

You can also help promote the newsletter by spreading the word about it, sharing posts with colleagues who may be interested in these issues, sharing on social media and Substack Notes, and recommending the newsletter to your readers (if you are a writer on Substack).

A bit about me for new readers

I am a clinical psychiatrist, working in the Cleveland area (Ohio) in the US. I am a faculty member in the psychiatry department at Case Western Reserve University. I was born and raised in Pakistan. My academic areas of interest include conceptual issues in psychiatric diagnosis and classification, psychopharmacology, nature of scientific explanation in psychiatry, explanatory pluralism, medical model, critical psychiatry, and the history of psychiatry.

I have written for the New York Times (an online, interactive piece on the treatment of depression!), and I have been quoted in outlets such as VICE, the Rolling Stones, and the LA Times.

For 3 years, I led the interview series “Conversations in Critical Psychiatry” for Psychiatric Times that explored critical and philosophical perspectives in psychiatry. You can see a list of the interviews in chronological order here. A book adaptation of selected interviews from the series with new material is forthcoming from Oxford University Press. I was hoping the book may be out by the end of 2023, but things at OUP’s end are running pretty slow, and I am honestly not quite sure now when the book will be out (OUP editors, if you are reading this, hurry up!).

I am active in the philosophy of psychiatry community. I am one of the senior editors for the journal Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology. I’m an executive council member of the Association for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry, which is a wonderful organization. Consider becoming a member and/or attending their annual meetings (open to all) to learn more if you have an interest. AAPP hosts an annual Karl Jaspers Award for trainees for the best unpublished paper in philosophy and psychiatry.

Two upcoming talks in October 2023

My Google Scholar profile

My website

Twitter

If you are generally unfamiliar with the newsletter, check out the archive (especially for recent posts), see top performing posts (according to the Substack algorithm), and see some content recommendations from the early months of the newsletter in the About page.

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Please use this post as an open thread for comments. Ask me anything; introduce yourself; share what you’ve found most valuable in the newsletter, what you’d like to see more of, any developments or issues that I should be paying attention to; or anything else you’d like to comment on.

Thank you!