You know when you suddenly decide to change direction, take a leap into the new, and become a beginner again? Well, I do. And it's been wonderful: challenging but oh so satisfying. The result? My first novel, out next month. More to follow, but for now - I'm just going to enjoy this moment!

Just followed Jesse Singal on here to earn the badge of honour!

Congrats to Stephanie Foster ( @bitesizetherapy.bsky.social) on receiving honorable mention in "Excellence in Journalism" award by American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA) for her article "The Remaking of a Therapist" (Psychiatry at the Margins, Sep 2023) www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/the-remaki...

In 1975 Anscombe talked of faith qua taking what someone says for true. Jones, a friend, writes to say his wife died. We believe him. In believing him, Anscombe says, we *presuppose* that he exists; it's a *conviction* or *assumption* we have. This strikes me as wrong. 🧵

A blog post on conversion disorder. What does Habib Davanloo have in common with Jesus Christ?! Well, plausibly, IMO: they both cured FND by the derepression of previously intolerable guilt and other affects. ... "Conversion and Conversion": clinicalphilosophy.blogspot.com/2025/02/guil...

What's the difference between a poisoning and an allergic reaction? Is it just a matter of *how many* people react badly to the substance in question?

In 2010s Cambridge it was déclassé to talk about authors’ biographies as if they had any relevance to their work (this may continue). The connection is indirect & complex, but we ignore it at huge cost: in Alice Munro’s case, naivety about her partner’s child abuse www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

a cold misty grey day; spiders' webs on the gates, covered in ice

Wondering how to spend International Women's Day (Fri 7/3/25)? Join @rebecca99.bsky.social , @suzypuss.bsky.social & me by the fireside at The Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh from 6pm, as we discuss their new books, An Improbable Psychiatrist & Out of Her Mind www.rcpe.ac.uk/events/conve...

Johnson: "I consider it a disaster for Cambridge that Wittgenstein has returned. A man who is quite incapable of carrying on a discussion. If I say that a sentence has meaning for me, noone has a right to say it is senseless." ...

Who'd have guessed that Wittgenstein could so easily be refuted, or that he'd overlooked such an obvious possibility?