1950s Psychoanalysts, meet Meta.
Really, Zuckerberg? Really?!?!
“We’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship. It’s time to get back to our roots around free expression” Mark Zuckerberg
Hi 👋 friends,
Sigh… Last week, ultimate tech bro Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta would allow (brace for it) “allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like ‘weird.’”
While I have no intention of being less visible or disabling comments on any Meta platform, I can only imagine the fear from many people figuring out who they are, trying connect with a new queer community online and knowing the floodgates have been opened to hate, just for being yourself. It strikes me as no coincidence that this move is coinciding with the inauguration of President Musk, sorry President Trump, and a (flawed) view that equality impinges on free speech.
Who am I?
Hi 👋 friends, thank you so much for subscribing to my newsletter. I’m Elliott, a doctor and psychiatrist in the UK I make content about mental health 🧠 and mental illness 👨⚕️ trying to help improve our understanding of mental health and documenting my own personal and professional journey along the way. My hope is that by sharing what I have learned and what I continue to learn that it will also help you live mentally healthier happier and more productive lives.
Hate crimes and mental illness
Freedom of speech doesn’t equal freedom from consequences. We know LGBTQ+ related hate crimes having already been rising for the past few years, are under-reported, and the predominant consequence is the physical and psychological trauma to the victim, not the perpetrator. Mental illness is already more prevalent in queer people than the straights - higher rates of depression, anxiety, substance use, self-harm and suicide. More hate will only lead to more pain. I hope that positive queer voices will hold firm and remain visible to counteract this.
The Gays are Ill?
I was struck by the specific quote of “allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation…” People really still think being gay is a mental illness. Sad and scary but it’s true. Rather than use this newsletter to just cry and despair over a regressive step from Meta, I thought I’d share a bit of LGBTQ+ history of how and why homosexuality really was classified as a mental illness, perhaps more recently than you might think.
Psychoanalysts have a lot to answer for…
Pre-1950s, psychiatry didn’t have much in the way of pharmacological treatments for mental illness. There were some sedatives like barbiturates, but otherwise “treatment” was separation from society in asylums, isolation and restraint and interventions that today we look back on with shock and despair like insulin coma therapy, unmodified electroconvulsive therapy and lobotomies. Some of the most vocal theorists within psychiatry were the psychoanalysts and it was they who felt very strongly that homosexuality was a mental illness.
Perhaps no quote better sums up the consensus view of psychoanlaysits about the gays than this by Edmund Bergler in his book “Homosexualty: Disease or Way of Life”
“I have no bias against homosexuals; for me they are sick people requiring medical help... Still, though I have no bias, I would say: Homosexuals are essentially disagreeable people, regardless of their pleasant or unpleasant outward manner... [their] shell is a mixture of superciliousness, fake aggression, and whimpering. Like all psychic masochists, they are subservient when confronted with a stronger person, merciless when in power, unscrupulous about trampling on a weaker person”
Pretty awful isn’t it? This wasn’t one persons rogue opinion. This was well supported by the field and it was ultimately the psychoanalysts that succeeded in having homosexuality included in the very first edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual in 1952. It’s bad enough that it was coded as a disorder, but its made even worse that it was categorised as a type of sociopathic personality disturbance!
Let me know if you found this interesting as the story goes far deeper than this and has wild twists and turns!
This weeks recommendations
Here are some of my recommendations to check out from the week. If you’re familiar with them or decide to explore them then I’d love to know.
Book: Thirteen by Steven Cavanagh
I’ve had a bit of a reading slump recently and found that a proper thriller with genuine, unpredictable twists was the answer. This is one of the best I’ve read for some time. The story follows Eddie Flynn, a con artist-turned-defense lawyer, who is defending Hollywood actor Bobby Solomon, accused of murdering his wife and her lover. However, the real killer has infiltrated the jury to ensure the trial plays out in his favour.
Song: 'Black Dog' by Arlo Parks
The title references Winston Churchill's term for his own depression. Haunting but beautiful in its humanity.
TV: Severance (Apple TV)
The new season was released on 17th Jan. I loved the first season. If it was on Netflix then everyone would be talking about it! The show follows employees at Lumon Industries who undergo a procedure called "severance," which surgically divides their work and personal memories.
Socials
Twitter (X): @elcarthy)
Instagram: @dr.elliott.carthy
TikTok: @drelliottcarthy (if it still exists…)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliottcarthy/
Before you go…
I’d love to know if any of this resonated with you. Leave a comment if you’re comfortable sharing x
Do check out my video watching a VICE documentary about real life gay conversion therapy
Please do share this with anyone you think would like it.
I can barely believe we, as society, are regressing so much on basic human rights. Yet, it is happening, and more often every day. It's certainly discouraging, all this violence.
Thanks for sharing your insights and knowledge with us, Doc. It's such a pleasure to read you. And it gives me hope for a better world.
Wow, just wow. This is fascinating and terrifying at the same time. Fascinating because I just can’t fathom what the thinking process of these people must be like to make decisions like this. Terrifying because just a few people can make these decisions that make so many people feel unsafe. I don’t really do social media, but the social media that I am on, is mostly me trying to connect with other queer and like-minded people.
The history of mental illness and the LGBTQ+ has also always been fascinating to me. The thought that not long ago, queer people might have gotten an icepick jammed into their brain is so weird and scary.
Thank you so much for this newsletter Dr. Carthy. Responses like prevent me from losing hope.