Is an Influential Australian Psychiatrist Spreading Fear?

First off, the coronavirus doesn't cause any psychiatric 'disorders'. Let's be abundantly clear about that.

I'm astonished to see Australia's leading brain pellet spokesperson Patrick McGorry (above), spreading fear on Twitter.

It appears McGorry took umbrage to a letter (below) sent into The Guardian from Dr Lucy Johnstone. The letter from Johntsone was in response to Paul Daley’s article (We face a pandemic of mental health disorders, 24 March)

McGorry, in a rather contradictory fashion, tweeted the following in response:

If, according to McGorry, fear is "100% absolutely appropriate" why does he then add his own mix of fear with, "...severe stress, economic collapse & multiple losses in a global disaster will lead to a major increase in need for MH care..."?

It seems that in the space of just two weeks psychiatrists, such as McGorry, have become expert virologists and economists overnight. They are jumping into a situation and trying to make it appear as though they have an important role in what's going on or what may happen as a result of this global pandemic.

The truth of the matter is, they don't have a clue about what is going on, they only think they do. Yes, people are fearful, I am myself, as are many of my family and friends, in fact, every time I clear my throat mild panic sets in but do we really need the likes of McGorry spreading more unnecessary fear with his crystal ball predictions? All of his claims are natural responses to situations, they are not mental disorders, therefore they should never be treated as such. A pill won't get you a job nor will it make the economy look better either.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Let's just look at the current way psychiatrists diagnose Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

To be diagnosed with OCD, you must have obsessions:

 - worry that you will become sick or “contaminated”
 - a belief that you or someone you love is in danger 
- Sometimes the link between the compulsion and the obsession is clear, like someone who washes their hands repeatedly to fight germs or contamination.

Now, here's some food for thought.

What if residents of Wuhan, where the coronavirus purportedly originated from, had been 'obsessive' about washing their hands repeatedly to fight germs or contamination, would we still have seen such a global spread?

What if those same residents wanted to obsess about hygiene but were fearful to do so because they didn't want to be labelled by psychiatrists as having OCD?

As I understand it psychiatry views a person who washes their hands repeatedly to fight germs or contamination as possibly having a brain disorder, or the makings of one but what would an independent psychiatrist think of McGorry's latest contradictory rant on Twitter?

McGorry is famous for his Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre [EPPIC]. Over 50% of psychiatrists who took a poll believed that EPPIC put young people at risk of being over-medicated.

McGorry, with the financial assistance of Seroquel manufacturer Astra Zeneca, also wanted to carry out a clinical trial [of sorts] with children, among others, who had not yet been diagnosed with a psychotic illness. In other words, he wanted, it appears, to trial out Seroquel, a powerful antipsychotic, on subjects who, for all intents and purposes, had nothing wrong with them.

Psychiatrists, psychologists and researchers from all over the world lodged a complaint when they heard of the planned trial.

McGorry pulled the trial and now denies that the complaint had anything to do with his decision.

It begs the question of who has the obsessions here, is it the people who wish to make their own choices or the people who constantly push their choices on others?

McGorry is, in essence, fearmongering. It's almost like he and many other Twitter and media psychiatrists are experiencing schadenfreude, a pleasure that one derives from another person's misfortune.

In any event, the way we view the world is likely to have some drastic changes after all this blows over ~ leaves me wondering if the field psychiatry is going to move the goalposts on their criteria for OCD - if they do then it will be an admission of 'we got it wrong' - a hidden admission at that as they rarely apologise for getting things wrong. If they don't change the criteria then they are going to look rather stupid...not for the first time.

We, as a race, will be obsessively washing our hands for years to come.

Leave the medicine to the real doctors and the choice of wanting to be as obsessive as we want about our own hygiene, please Paddy!


Bob Fiddaman

You can read more about Paddy McGorry here 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28