Interesting to speculate on the “extremely generous” offer from Substack. They’re obviously willing to devote a decent amount of dev time to making Scott comfortable, and I’m sure they have a good idea of how having SSC on board would promote their platform on its take-over-the-blog-market mission, so it could be generous indeed.
Update on My Situation
11–20 of 142 posts
Re: Update on My Situation
#12So the lesson for those who maintain anonymous or pseudo-anonymous identities online-
As your pseudonym's popularity grows, chances increase that someone will be interested in unmasking your identity. The only solutions are to reduce your pseudonym's visibility or staying fully anonymous in the first place.
Re: Update on My Situation
#13At this point I think maintaining anonymity is a losing battle. So I am gradually reworking my life to be compatible with the sort of publicity that circumstances seem to be forcing on me. I had a talk with my employer and we came to a mutual agreement that I would gradually transition away from working there. Wait, what ? Why? What'd he write that's so incompatible with employment as a psychiatrist? I don't get it.…
Background: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/06/22/nyt-is-threatening-my-...
> First, I’m a psychiatrist, and psychiatrists are kind of obsessive about preventing their patients from knowing anything about who they are outside of work. You can read more about this in this Scientific American article – and remember that the last psychiatrist blogger to get doxxed abandoned his blog too. I am not one of the big sticklers on this, but I’m more of a stickler than “let the New York Times tell my patients where they can find my personal blog”.
Re: Update on My Situation
#14At this point I think maintaining anonymity is a losing battle. So I am gradually reworking my life to be compatible with the sort of publicity that circumstances seem to be forcing on me. I had a talk with my employer and we came to a mutual agreement that I would gradually transition away from working there. Wait, what ? Why? What'd he write that's so incompatible with employment as a psychiatrist? I don't get it.…
Background: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/06/22/nyt-is-threatening-my-... > First, I’m a psychiatrist, and psychiatrists are kind of obsessive about preventing their patients from knowing anything about who they are outside of work. You can read more about this in this Scientific American article – and remember that the last psychiatrist blogger to get doxxed abandoned his blog too. I am not one of the big stickler…
But that doesn't mesh with "start my own private practice." Either those concerns apply to his original job and his new practice, or neither. Something doesn't seem to add up...
Re: Update on My Situation
#15So the lesson for those who maintain anonymous or pseudo-anonymous identities online- As your pseudonym's popularity grows, chances increase that someone will be interested in unmasking your identity. The only solutions are to reduce your pseudonym's visibility or staying fully anonymous in the first place.
Incredibly sad but true.
There seems to be two opposing imperatives for online social identity. On one hand you want reputation and accountability for what people say to fight trolling, bullying, and misinformation. On the other hand you want some level of anonymity to encourage free speech and expression. I don’t know if this core tension can ever be fully resolved but our current online environment is clearly far from optimal.
Re: Update on My Situation
#16At this point I think maintaining anonymity is a losing battle. So I am gradually reworking my life to be compatible with the sort of publicity that circumstances seem to be forcing on me. I had a talk with my employer and we came to a mutual agreement that I would gradually transition away from working there. Wait, what ? Why? What'd he write that's so incompatible with employment as a psychiatrist? I don't get it.…
Background: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/06/22/nyt-is-threatening-my-... > First, I’m a psychiatrist, and psychiatrists are kind of obsessive about preventing their patients from knowing anything about who they are outside of work. You can read more about this in this Scientific American article – and remember that the last psychiatrist blogger to get doxxed abandoned his blog too. I am not one of the big stickler…
I think this doesn't really answer the question, though. Psychiatrists like to do X - is that because they follow a cargo cult of other psychiatrists who do X, or because there's empirical evidence that not-X is bad for patient outcomes (or bad for doctor outcomes - he has repeatedly mentioned concerns over his physical security)?
This is exactly the kind of question I'd expect SSC to tackle thoughtfully on his blog if it wasn't so close to home. But without clear evidence against it, it's hard to criticise him for taking the conservative approach.
Further, I'd expect he'd admit these days that using (most of) his real name for his blog was a mistake. He shouldn't be expected to further overreach professional standards of anonymity just because he previously made that misstep.
Re: Update on My Situation
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Background: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/06/22/nyt-is-threatening-my-... > First, I’m a psychiatrist, and psychiatrists are kind of obsessive about preventing their patients from knowing anything about who they are outside of work. You can read more about this in this Scientific American article – and remember that the last psychiatrist blogger to get doxxed abandoned his blog too. I am not one of the big stickler…
I think this doesn't really answer the question, though. Psychiatrists like to do X - is that because they follow a cargo cult of other psychiatrists who do X, or because there's empirical evidence that not-X is bad for patient outcomes (or bad for doctor outcomes - he has repeatedly mentioned concerns over his physical security)? This is exactly the kind of question I'd expect SSC to tackle thoughtfully on his blog…
[deleted]
Re: Update on My Situation
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Background: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/06/22/nyt-is-threatening-my-... > First, I’m a psychiatrist, and psychiatrists are kind of obsessive about preventing their patients from knowing anything about who they are outside of work. You can read more about this in this Scientific American article – and remember that the last psychiatrist blogger to get doxxed abandoned his blog too. I am not one of the big stickler…
But that doesn't mesh with "start my own private practice." Either those concerns apply to his original job and his new practice, or neither. Something doesn't seem to add up...
The full quote is
> At some point, I may start my own private practice, where I’m my own boss and where I can focus on medication management – and not the kinds of psychotherapy that I’m most worried are ethically incompatible with being a public figure
It seems believable to me that "medication management" (you've been diagnosed with a mental illness, we have an idea how to treat this chemically, but it's a really complex balance that needs constant professional intervention) is less sensitive to being a public figure than other aspects of psychiatry (lie on the couch and open up to me with your personal secrets).
I'm sure this is a ridiculous simplification and as I said in another post here I'd like to hear SSC's take on it (but don't expect to). But it's uncharitable to say "something doesn't add up".
Re: Update on My Situation
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Background: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/06/22/nyt-is-threatening-my-... > First, I’m a psychiatrist, and psychiatrists are kind of obsessive about preventing their patients from knowing anything about who they are outside of work. You can read more about this in this Scientific American article – and remember that the last psychiatrist blogger to get doxxed abandoned his blog too. I am not one of the big stickler…
But that doesn't mesh with "start my own private practice." Either those concerns apply to his original job and his new practice, or neither. Something doesn't seem to add up...
His new practice will be medication management, not psychotherapy.
Re: Update on My Situation
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Background: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/06/22/nyt-is-threatening-my-... > First, I’m a psychiatrist, and psychiatrists are kind of obsessive about preventing their patients from knowing anything about who they are outside of work. You can read more about this in this Scientific American article – and remember that the last psychiatrist blogger to get doxxed abandoned his blog too. I am not one of the big stickler…
I think this doesn't really answer the question, though. Psychiatrists like to do X - is that because they follow a cargo cult of other psychiatrists who do X, or because there's empirical evidence that not-X is bad for patient outcomes (or bad for doctor outcomes - he has repeatedly mentioned concerns over his physical security)? This is exactly the kind of question I'd expect SSC to tackle thoughtfully on his blog…
Consider therapists who have you lie on a couch vs those who have you sit in the same style chair, as an equal.
Some therapists position themselves as an authority figure for their patients. If they were to open up about themselves, the patient might think they're incapable after seeing the therapist has doubts in their own life.
This has advantages and drawbacks. It may be more efficient in earning trust, thus helping some patients heal faster. OTOH, some patients may never really accept this kind of therapist.
In my experience, psychiatrists more often position themselves as authorities, and among psychologists/therapists/counselors there is a mix.
It's really hard IMO to get communicable science out of talk therapy because there are so many variables and it is extremely subjective and personal. The whole point is to help a patient navigate their own issues.
I draw the above opinion on therapy from reading a few books about the history of psychoanalysis and the various branches it has taken.