If this blog were a book you would give to someone else, what posts would you want in it?
The posts would be reworked, sent to an editor, etc.
What I'm looking for aren't necessarily people's favorite posts, or posts that hold up best over time. I'm looking for those posts you wish you could send to someone else, except that they don't read blogs.
Submit your suggestions any way you'd like (twitter, fb, comments here, email).
Thanks for helping me with this.
June 18, 2011 5:35 PM | Posted by : | Reply
- The Abusive Boyfriend
- The Effects Of Too Much Porn: "He's Just Not That Into Anyone"
- Are Chinese Mothers Superior To American Mothers?
- Bad At Math
dunno, so many good ones :>
June 18, 2011 6:00 PM | Posted by : | Reply
- the ones above
- When Was The Last Time You Got Your Ass Kicked?: One of the best IMO, difficult for book, video etc.
- One Way Our Schools Are Training New Narcissists
June 18, 2011 6:03 PM | Posted by : | Reply
https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2011/02/hes_just_not_that_into_anyone.html
with emphasis on the "not that kind of person" aspect of making change, which is so relevant to any successful life change--just not wanting it, whatever it may be, o wanting the other thing in a way that makes the previous object of affection/obsession (or mere habit) seem undesirable/irrelevant. .
June 18, 2011 6:09 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Those Five Days Matter More Than Anything, Except The Other Days
https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2008/10/those_five_days_matter_more_th.html
The Worst Thing That Can Happen Is You Succeed
https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/08/the_worst_thing_that_can_happe.html
June 18, 2011 6:10 PM | Posted by : | Reply
I think your greatest is still "This is why the American Dream is out of reach".
June 18, 2011 7:17 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Like a lot of your readers, the post that brought me here was "The Scariest Thing I Have Ever Seen", and your most compelling work for me is your commentary on narcissism and american society. The pharma stuff is interesting to a lay person like me and helps me understand the debate, but might not make the best summer read.
June 18, 2011 8:22 PM | Posted by : | Reply
The series on narcissism and men, especially the posts on Tiger Woods.
June 18, 2011 9:00 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Definitely the post about ssi. I'm read that post out loud to non-blog-readers I was so impressed with it.
I wouldn't edit it too hard either, one of my favorite parts of it was the writing style.
https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/11/the_terrible_awful_truth_about_1.html
June 18, 2011 9:06 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Pretty much all your posts about narcissism, I found those to be extremely useful, interesting, and informative; and would definitely recommend to other people.
June 18, 2011 9:10 PM | Posted by : | Reply
This one: https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/07/nobody_will_understand_what_we.html
And any of the ones where you analyzed advertisements, especially this one: https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/11/advertisings_collateral_damage.html
June 18, 2011 10:00 PM | Posted by : | Reply
The Terrible, Awful Truth about Supplemental Security Income -- Too many people (on all sides) can't get passed fairly irrelevant arguments about the morality of government handouts. The real issues are so much more complicated.
"Nobody will understand what went on in this house to drive my dad to this level of insanity" -- because literally EVERYONE was calling that an honor killing (even me, until I read this post) and making it stand for something that it just was not.
Are Chinese Mothers Superior To American Mothers? -- Here's a general theme: there are some misunderstandings, once you point them out, it doesn't matter what other arguments have been made because they are so fundamental. Here it's that 1) Amy Chua is really an American parent 2) She doesn't have that much influence over her kids anyway.
The Trouble with Charlie Sheen -- Because a LOT of people could stand to hear this sentence: "if you put your ear up to the TV you can hear America breathing a collective sigh of relief, thank God he's falling apart, because if he wasn't crazy and there's no God then what rationalization could you possibly have for not following his lead?" (also when did "ass up to the TV" become "ear up to the TV"? I liked it better as ass).
Charlie Sheen Has An Awesome Experience, This Time With Drugs and A Hooker, Which Was The Same As Last Time -- Everyone can stop.
5 Things You Need To Understand About Wikileaks Before You Celebrate -- You just want to see the smashing.
Are Antipsychotics Overprescribed To Kids? -- Because when you say "the kids showed up", anyone whose ever dealt with parents (which is a lot of people) will instantly feel the pang of despair, that this problem is bigger than anything they or anyone they know can deal with.
What Should Really Be Done For Autistic Children? + Bipolar Rates Are Increasing As Long As You're Willing To Call Everything Bipolar And Defy God's Will -- I have this friend and the first time someone told me she had been diagnosed bipolar was when she reacted rather badly to something I thought she had A RATHER LEGITIMATE REASON TO BE UPSET ABOUT. That was frustrating.
This Time It's ESP + Wakefield And The Autism Fraud-- The Other Part Of The Story -- "How many articles within are not for clinicians to act on, they're to put on a CV, get a promotion, get a grant, establish a name." I am not an academic but I do work in the sciences and OH MY GOD every criticism you have given it is true and so much more. People have absorbed the quest for reputation to the point that they don't have to hide it anymore; no one thinks twice about saying they want to publish a paper for no reason other than to say they have published a paper. And so few people actually have something to say. And I want to say to them 1) look, you don't have to do this 2) we can tell you're faking it.
June 18, 2011 10:35 PM | Posted by : | Reply
The Don Draper series:
Don Draper Voted "Most Influential Man"
You Want To Be Don Draper? You Already Are
+
The Effects Of Too Much Porn: "He's Just Not That Into Anyone"
Looking forward to it. Will there be any new material included?
June 18, 2011 11:02 PM | Posted by : | Reply
The best article you've ever posted is Where Parents Go Wrong, but a large part of what makes it great is the the comments that followed. I'm not sure how you could re-write it to work in a book.
June 18, 2011 11:52 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Well, you need to get most of the articles you have written on this site together to get the page count high enough to make a book, so maybe a better question would be
"what articles WOULDN'T you want in a book you gave to a friend?"
The articles I find least appealing are the ones that dig into the details of the various drugs, their uses, how they are prescribed, and that whole class of articles. Which is a bummer, because those are the ones where you speak with detailed knowledge.
The articles that are the best (my opinion) are the social commentary. The movie reviews, and just the deconstructions of current events, such as Amy Chu the Tiger Mom.
Since you asked for feedback, you'll read these comments, and see that nobody else has recommended the details-of-drugs posts either.
Argh. My first comment on TLP and I'm being critical. I had hoped it would be something witty and incisive. At least I can be complimentary and say that I do enjoy reading everything you write on here, and if you ever do compile these posts into a book, I will be buying a copy!
June 18, 2011 11:56 PM | Posted by : | Reply
The Abusive Boyfriend
The Fall and Rise of Rebecca Black
Infidelity and Other Taboos, Media Style
This is Baywatch
The Decline Effect is Stupid
He's Just Not That Into Anyone
8 Characteristics of Family Annihilators
Inception series
Test of Psychopathy series
June 18, 2011 11:58 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Four posts that I have actually forwarded on to other people:
When was the last time you got your arse kicked
How not to pick up women
Shouting vs Spanking
The one about Catfish.
Obviously, the common theme in all these is narcissism. While many blog readers might be single, white, educated males who love the posts about picking up women because they see themselves in it ("what, you didn't think hot girls had peripheral vision?"), I think the stuff on parenting is also genius. I don't have kids, but my brother has two and I sent him the Shouting vs Spanking post because it's a really concrete example of the same kind of problem - trying to bend reality to your will in the service of constructing your identity toward the world.
June 19, 2011 1:01 AM | Posted by : | Reply
You can start with the one just before this one. After spending fifteen years as a school psychologist trying to keep the nonwhite kids out of special education, I gave up and retired.
June 19, 2011 1:09 AM | Posted by : | Reply
I'm so glad you asked :)
- A Generational Pathology: Narcissism Is Not Grandiosity
- I'm Building A Rape Tunnel
- The Effects Of Too Much Porn: "He's Just Not That Into Anyone"
- The Terrible, Awful Truth About Supplemental Security Income
- Are Antipsychotics Overprescribed To Kids?
- Everything on parenting
June 19, 2011 2:53 AM | Posted by : | Reply
To me, the most valuable posts are the ones on neuroleptica, like why you get fat ("bright side: now they can float") and that too low doses on some medicines not make them less effective - but turns them into a totally different agent.
June 19, 2011 3:06 AM | Posted, in reply to , by : | Reply
Me too, I like the clinical/technical posts best, but I assumed that was because I am socially defective / quasi autistic.
I realize everyone likes the narcissism stuff best because most people are "people people" and such individuals gravitate toward leaders, people who sound like experts and can command a following... and the narcissism series does that well.
June 19, 2011 3:18 AM | Posted by : | Reply
Lots of comments but nobody mentions one of the best posts ever: https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2007/05/the_wrong_lessons_of_iraq.html
June 19, 2011 3:50 AM | Posted by : | Reply
I'm surprised nobody has yet mentioned The Legend of Stephen Colbert. That's the one that got me hooked. But you'd need to find a way to embed in a book the video of the alternate ending to I Am Legend to get the same epic smackdown.
June 19, 2011 4:33 AM | Posted by : | Reply
Frosty the Snowman
https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/05/frosty_the_snowman.html
One of the best pieces of writing I have ever read. Still read it every few months.
June 19, 2011 8:07 AM | Posted by : | Reply
The Rage of the Average Joe: https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/02/the_rage_of_the_average_joe.html
When Is It Okay to Rape a Woman:
https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2011/03/when_is_it_okay_to_rape_a_woma.html
June 19, 2011 8:34 AM | Posted by : | Reply
My friends and I made this as our TLP starter Kit:
8 Characteristics of Family Annihilators
The Effects Of Too Much Porn: "He's Just Not That Into Anyone"
The Legend Of Steven Colbert
This Is Baywatch
The Decline Effect Is Stupid
Infidelity and other Taboos
The Ultimate Explanation of Infidelity
The Last Psychiatrist: Kanye West And The Video Music Awards
3 Media Narratives from the Middle East
The Abusive Boyfriend
June 19, 2011 8:38 AM | Posted by : | Reply
I'm gonna be the squeaky wheel that needs grease here.
Compiling the best blog posts into a book wouldn't give Alone's talents enough credit. Reading many of those posts have left me gazing at the monitor with my jaw dropped, thinking: "why hasn't anyone ever said that before?!"
Insight into the human condition with all our weird behaviors, but written with truth, humor, exaggeration, sarcasm, and even data, puts Alone above the bloger crowd.
Those short bursts of creativity in blog posts could be expanded into book form, by Alone alone.
June 19, 2011 8:52 AM | Posted by : | Reply
The Jay-Z one, and the stuff on the Matrix and Inception. The marginalia on the Atlantic article by Sandra Ling Loh, but that pose represent copyright issues. I think some of the stuff on drugs is important too, though it might be a slog for some.
June 19, 2011 9:33 AM | Posted by : | Reply
- The C Team
-The Abusive Boyfriend
-Charlie Sheen ( I think you can take from the two for one piece)
-A Real Man
-The Black Women one
June 19, 2011 12:18 PM | Posted by : | Reply
I would happily give a book with your posts where you make points about science in general, using the psichiatry as an exemple.
June 19, 2011 12:28 PM | Posted by : | Reply
The PTSD / Star Wars piece should be required reading in the VA Mental Health system.
June 19, 2011 12:50 PM | Posted by : | Reply
You got me with, "all your actions have a blast radius." That's when I started watching for your posts. Then there is your steady effort to get the reader to control the only variable he can: himself. But to me the most important line that wasn't personal is, "so they won't burn us down." I had no idea that we are wasting humanity to that extent. It makes me sad and worried about our nation. It looks like modern lobotomy to me. You're a good American, a good doctor and a good teacher; just serve your patients.
June 19, 2011 12:59 PM | Posted by : | Reply
I hope you would include "The Boy Who Learned To Talk Too Late And Too Fast."
https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2008/07/the_boy_who_learned_to_talk_to.html#more
This sentence, "I am blown away by the complexity and maturity of it-- that's not even his voice-- and simultaneously furious that he would talk like that to me, that the first coherent sentence he puts together is used to blow me off" hit me like a thunderbolt. I think of it often.
Thank you for this blog, and best of luck with the book.
PS I also love the movie posts.
June 19, 2011 1:05 PM | Posted by : | Reply
-The worst generation of narcissists are actually the second worst generation of narcissists.
June 19, 2011 2:09 PM | Posted by : | Reply
(1) The Charlie Sheen posts.
(2) The Inception and Black Swan reviews.
(3) How not to meet women.
(4) That guy on death row who killed his family and claims to neither remember it nor know why - in fact, anything where you explain the difference between guilt and shame. People need to know that.
(5) The Wrong Lessons of Iraq.
(6) The Suicide of Bill Heller.
(7) That earlier post where your explain how the seasons affect suicide patterns in different countries.
June 19, 2011 2:13 PM | Posted by : | Reply
I'm very impressed with all the posts, but what I've gotten most out of are the psychiatry-related posts. As a doctor I've learned a lot from the post '10 things psychiatrists do wrong.' (I revisit the article every now and then.) Also, your neuroleptic, big pharma and welfare - related articles have been brilliant. I'm less interested in the mainstream popular culture - related posts; movies, charlie sheen etc.
Not sure which way you wanna go with the book, mainstream or more nerdy, but whatever you decide to do, the book'll rock. I can't remember a single post of yours that would've been of poor quality. :)
June 19, 2011 4:35 PM | Posted by : | Reply
- The Abusive Boyfriend
- The Near Death Of A Salesman
- Those Five Days Matter More...
- When is it ok to rape a woman
- the decline effect is stupud
- the effects of too much porn
- Don Draper
- inception
June 19, 2011 5:04 PM | Posted by : | Reply
I'd like to see a book on narcissism and maybe there is potential to include posts that aren't obviously about narcissism. I'm not a doctor but it does strike me that the "they're just extras in my movie" problem has some relationship to the reason advertising is the way it is and the ready societal acceptance of the issues you've pointed to regarding SSI. Maybe I'm overreaching. My two cents.
June 19, 2011 5:06 PM | Posted by : | Reply
I'd like to see a book on narcissism and maybe there is potential to include posts that aren't obviously about narcissism. I'm not a doctor but it does strike me that the "they're just extras in my movie" problem has some relationship to the reason advertising is the way it is and the ready societal acceptance of the issues you've pointed to regarding SSI. Maybe I'm overreaching. My two cents.
June 19, 2011 5:41 PM | Posted by : | Reply
https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2011/03/3_media_narratives_about_the_m.html
I emailed this one to the students in my rhetoric and current events class. It has some terrific one-liners, in addition to being a great analysis of visual rhetoric.
June 19, 2011 6:48 PM | Posted by : | Reply
-the pharmacology 101 posts (receptor affinity for dummies)
-the narcissism series
-the diversion-of-poverty-to-psychiatry's-caseload series (the truth about SSI, et cetera)
June 19, 2011 8:53 PM | Posted by : | Reply
1. All the parenting stuff.
(Including Parenting and Personality Disorders, and Parenting and Personality: MAO-A. You would have to rewrite it, of course; but I grew up listing that "it's all in your genes, son, you're just like me", even after I had sufficient genetics knowlodge to argue against that)
I would give them all to my parents, especially to my father.
I would like someone to give me all that stuff if I didn't know your blog.
2. The Abusive Boyfriend.
Best article about self sabotage that I've ever seen.
3. The Terrible, Awful Truth About Supplemental Security Income. Well... only if the fingermen don't black bag you ;P (I'm not american, I've never been in USofA, I didn't know what SSI was until that article, but it became one of the best texts that I've read even before I finished the reading)
4. When Is It Okay To Rape A Woman?
Very instructive and very well written.
This was the "hook-article" for me. No pun intended o.O I'm not even a native speaker ;P
5. The Other Ego Epidemic; Can Narcissism be cured?; ; Don Draper Voted "Most Influential Man"; You Want To Be Don Draper? You Already Are.
6. The Ten Biggest Mistakes Psychiatrists Make
This is a public service. I wish I had read this 5 years ago.
The above articles are the primordial ones in that hypothetical book. In fact, I've already e-mailed some of those.
The articles below are good ones, but I wouldn't consider them emergency necessities ;P :
- Just How Many Drinks A Day Is Bad?
(This is one of my favorites. Seriously. Only someone that tried to find that information for so many years as I tried would be glad as I was when I found that article)
- Those Five Days Matter More Than Anything, Except The Other Days.
- Catfish: The Real Danger of Social Media; Second Life Is A Second Chance, Which Is Why It Fails.
- The inception serie.
- Kerouac's On The Road: The 50th Anniversary Of A Book I Had Not Read
- How Dangerous Is Academic Psychiatry? Ask David Foster Wallace
- The Most Important Article On Psychiatry You Will Ever Read serie.
- How Doctors Don't Think
- Massacre of The Unicorns
- Borderline
- Psychiatry Is Politics
- Advertising's Hidden Second Message
- Advertising's Collateral Damage
wow...
that took a while... I was going to list only 2 or 3 articles... your blog is wonderful, there is a lot of information that HAS to be spread.
and I thank you.
June 19, 2011 8:55 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Having knee-jerked a response earlier, I return from a couple of hours reading through your archives. Considering the comments to this point in general, it looks like you're on to something with narcissism. You have been with me, too. Perhaps a combo kind of anthology that threads a cultural aspect with how that plays out in the individual and how it can reliably be self-identified and corrected. A tall order, but it's pretty much all covered since '06, and especially in ernest starting in '07. Editing would be a chore with a dual approach. But if that interests you, I think lots of people could benefit from it.
June 19, 2011 10:35 PM | Posted by : | Reply
If I was going to give a compilation of your posts to someone, it would be someone who was interested in human behavior. Your book would likely be shelved in the "psychology" section of the bookstore, which attracts mostly students and people generally interested in the topic, but not actually in the field. Save the uber technical stuff for a journal.
You need to find a way to balance the keen observations with your human side so you're relatable in some way. Razor sharp and clever is one thing in a blog post that takes five minutes to read, trying to sit down and read a book of it is another story.
The same song over and over, even a good one, is always dull.
June 19, 2011 11:25 PM | Posted by : | Reply
I can't remember the name, but there was a post about the writing spaces of various authors, including Stephen King, who after getting the writing room of his dreams, wound up an alcoholic, and only after getting rid of the massive table in the room, did he recover. The post ended with a call to people to stop wishing they had that perfect space to write / make food / whatever, and just work with what you have.
Can't tell you how many people I know who need to read and internalize that message.
June 19, 2011 11:29 PM | Posted by : | Reply
My suggestions:
1. For some reason, the posts written like stories are the ones I'd be most likely to recommend to other people. From heavy stuff like "A trip you may have taken" to (comparatively) lighter posts like "Worse than the flu," I've reread them all at least a couple of times. Include as many as you can.
2. Not to say that the essay posts aren't awesome too. I agree with many of the recommendations above, and will just add that I am stunned that no one has nominated "Wrong about Obama." Come on guys, that essay contains, and gives context to, an all-time top-ten TLP quote, "No one hates Christ or Mohammed, they hate Christians and Muslims."
3. I agree very much with this, from Anonymous above:
"You need to find a way to balance the keen observations with your human side so you're relatable in some way. Razor sharp and clever is one thing in a blog post that takes five minutes to read, trying to sit down and read a book of it is another story."
June 20, 2011 12:39 AM | Posted by : | Reply
My personal number one is: Birth Order: Are First Borns Always Older than their Siblings?
The Mad Men articles, The Abusive Boyfriend, Here's what happened when I went to LAX with no ID: nothing, Sopranos Finale Explained, maybe the Mel Gibson essays.
June 20, 2011 12:48 AM | Posted by : | Reply
I started reading with the post about honor killings as a form of narcissism, and there have been a lot since then. I may have to think about it and get back to you.
The down side is that whenever I have forwarded one of your posts to somebody else, they haven't gotten it, or they've hated it, or it didn't click somehow. Maybe I have bad taste in friends ...? Or something.
June 20, 2011 3:00 AM | Posted by : | Reply
When Was The Last Time You Got Your Ass Kicked?
Those Five Days Matter More Than Anything, Except The Other Days.
Why parents hate parenting
How to destroy a marriage
June 20, 2011 4:42 AM | Posted by : | Reply
oh please, make it about narcissism. about people who live their life as if it's all a movie about them.
this is the best of the best of the best, sir:
https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/07/why_parents_hate_parenting.html
June 20, 2011 6:50 AM | Posted by : | Reply
I'd like to thank all the commenters here. Reading over a lot of what you wrote was wonderful in that it either reminded me of some of my favourite posts, or introduced me to ones that I had missed.
June 20, 2011 8:28 AM | Posted by : | Reply
It says a lot about the persistently high quality of this blog that everyone seems to have their own favourites.
The one that I would love to see printed is The Massacre Of The Unicorns II. ('Simply put, the problem with "Evidenced Based Medicine" isn't the evidence, but the "based." ...') This one should be required reading for anyone in psychiatry or medicine.
Thank you for many great reading moments!
June 20, 2011 9:30 AM | Posted by : | Reply
- The Abusive Boyfriend
- If This Is One of The Sexiest Things You've Ever Seen, You May Be a Narcissist
- Can Narcissism Be Cured?
- This Is Baywatch
- I'm Not The One You Should Be Worried About
- [a few articles on 'a recient study found out' crap]
- [a few articles on suicides and family anihilators]
- [many articles on parenting]
- God's cheatcode to accuracy
- How To Create: Motivation for 2010
- China Needs More TVs
- [a few movie analysis, starting with: "Sex In The City 2"]
- Love Means Not Letting The Other Person Be Himself
- What Hath Google Wrought
- Refusing To Answer The Feds
- [a few articles on promotion of Fuedalism]
- 5 Things You Need To Understand About Wikileaks Before You Celebrate
- When Is It Okay To Rape A Woman?
- Bad At Math
- The C Team
- Shouting vs. Spanking
- Ramachandran's Mirror
- The Difference Between An Amateur, A Scientist, And A Genius
- The Near Death Of A Salesman
- Guess What Isn't The Cause Of Physician Suicide
- Where Does A Tree Get Its Mass?
and so on, and so forth...
Hope your book will be able to help more people!
PS I don't know how, but you should insert two videos inside the book.
Louis CK: Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy.
Doug Stanhope: No Refunds.
The last one should perhaps be a DVD attached to the book.
June 20, 2011 9:51 AM | Posted, in reply to , by : | Reply
Easy, Pen name. Authors have been using them since the dawn of publishing.
June 20, 2011 9:51 AM | Posted by : | Reply
But doc,
people's favorite posts, or posts that hold up best over time
are the ones people want to see in your book. :)
June 20, 2011 10:47 AM | Posted by : | Reply
The posts that I keep digging up and forwarding to friends are the ones about coffee.
June 20, 2011 10:48 AM | Posted by : | Reply
Anything that mentions "the matrix".
The Jay-Z is a genius one.
Amy Chua.
And, for the love of god, you MUST include the "when was the last time you got your ass kicked"...Damn I wish someone had given me that advice when I was 12...
June 20, 2011 11:31 AM | Posted by : | Reply
chapter 1:
you will never be happy...
chapter 2:
this has happened before...
chapter 3:
Brand new world...
June 20, 2011 11:55 AM | Posted by : | Reply
And you've already got a title and the cover! https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/12/happy_new_year_2011_from_your.html
June 20, 2011 12:09 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Don Draper series, Effects of Too Much Porn, "If This is One Of The Sexiest Things"
June 20, 2011 4:11 PM | Posted by : | Reply
most of my favorites have been named, but I think the
Second Life post should be in it. It had some of the most memorable and eye-opening paragraphs I remember from you.
June 20, 2011 4:34 PM | Posted by : | Reply
https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/09/hot_sports_reporter_ines_sainz.html
It adds something to the narrative.
June 20, 2011 5:08 PM | Posted by : | Reply
I agree with The Devastator above. Those posts cast in the form of a story are particularly powerful, and they lure the reader in, and keep him/her there, because they have to find out what happens, and so don't get hung up on the fact that they are being 'enlightened' in a way that perhaps they would not choose for themselves.
But then I like pretty well everything you write (even when I don't agree with it), and often send links or copy/paste jobs to people.
June 20, 2011 5:32 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Its interesting because the social commentary ones will have broader appeal but if you're going to "come out" with a book, you might have more credibility with commentary on psychiatry that is provocative but grounded in some evidence the way your posts are (ie the nerdy information posts) and then you can do a second one with the social commetary stuff to really grab more mass appeal (and thus satisfy your narcisstic needs). Building a larger microphone requires steps I think, rather than going for broke right away. But maybe going the other way makes more sense, you just don't want to come across as somebody like Kevin Trudeau.
June 20, 2011 9:38 PM | Posted by : | Reply
I'm kinda shocked that "crowdsourcing the superego" and "love the way you lie" aren't getting more action in the comments.
June 20, 2011 11:13 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Was I any form of inspiration for this?? I've never inspired anyone to do anything. Ever.
The narcissism pieces are the money posts and would make an excellent book.
June 21, 2011 1:56 AM | Posted by : | Reply
The dumbest generation of narcissist the world has ever seem
The fundamental attribution error post
How seroquek xr works
Time magazine person of the year when it was "you"
June 21, 2011 8:15 AM | Posted by : | Reply
Everything about narcissism. My wife's a psych nurse and so I get the whole tendency to pathologize everything. I guess "When all you've got's a hammer, everything looks like a nail," but I think you make an excellent point about the most common issue with Americans in general. People need to read it.
June 21, 2011 9:26 AM | Posted by : | Reply
- An Action Hero Fairy Tale
- What Was the Matrix?
- Reality Responds to the Matrix
- Don Draper Voted Most Influential Man
- How To Create: Motivation for 2010
- Are Law Schools Lying to their Applicants?
- This is Why the American Dream is Out of Reach
- The Near Death of a Salesman
- What The Miss USA Pageant Says About Us
June 21, 2011 10:36 AM | Posted, in reply to , by : | Reply
"Thomas Anderson" isn't Neo's real name.
June 21, 2011 2:24 PM | Posted by : | Reply
You must include all of the material about homicide and narcissism. I could have sworn you wrote something about the Pittsburgh shooter of 3 police, but I confused that with the Pittsburgh shooter of 3 women.
June 21, 2011 4:15 PM | Posted by : | Reply
A heuristic you could use would be collecting all the questions you've been asked in comments and email and using those to create a ranked FAQ. This might give you a rough idea of the kinds of things in which the people who read your blog are interested.
June 22, 2011 7:17 PM | Posted by : | Reply
The post that introduced me to and got me hooked on this blog was the one about tiger moms. I have recommended it to several friends.
June 22, 2011 10:16 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Absolutely the narcissism series. The ones that stand out especially memorably to me are the series about the Matrix/action movies, the Don Draper ones, the one(s?) about the serial killer & narcissism, and finally the "Can Narcissism be cured?" one.
June 23, 2011 11:13 AM | Posted by : | Reply
https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2008/08/if_youre_watching_its_for_you.html
It may be the foundation of nearly everything else.
June 23, 2011 1:36 PM | Posted by : | Reply
like the headshrinkers above, i appreciate the better-marketing-through-creative-psychopharmacology the most.
The most important one has been "The most Important..." one.
I loved the one where you pointed out that the drug company was testing the drug to be an effective add-on, when it was just as effective as solo! Bam!
Whatever works. But I think, like the blog, it would be cool to have the narcissism / if you are reading it is for you theme throughout, with the other themes, like the receptor stuff, interspersed.
I thought American Psycho had a certain way of keeping the reader off-balance, or multi-dimensional, by throwing in the music reviews (Genesis, and Huey Lewis).
June 23, 2011 6:12 PM | Posted by : | Reply
The Matrix and Inception posts should be in the book. Many people can relate to them and get the message.
"Why do politicians cheat?" was also very insightful.
June 29, 2011 4:35 PM | Posted, in reply to , by : | Reply
DEFINITELY the CATFISH one, when thinking of a post this is the first one that comes to mind.
July 4, 2011 8:05 AM | Posted by : | Reply
A few of my current interests after self diagnosis:
Borderline Personality Disorder and the NPD Partner.
ABDL and BPD (associated? BDSM & associated personality types)
How to Cure Boyfriend addicted to Free Web Cams (MFC)
Realistic career options for people with BPD
July 4, 2011 8:08 AM | Posted by : | Reply
hello Dr.,
here are a few of my interests after self diagnosis on wikipedia:
Borderline Personality Disorder and the NPD Partner.
ABDL and BPD (associated? BDSM & associated personality types)
How to Cure Boyfriend addicted to Free Web Cams (MFC)
Realistic career options for people with BPD
I would love to help design a periodical or monthly journal with you.
Cheers!
Dorothy
July 5, 2011 5:00 AM | Posted by : | Reply
I'd send all the posts about Lori Gottlieb to Lori Gottlieb.
(But seriously, I like the marriage and parenting posts.)
July 8, 2011 2:32 PM | Posted by : | Reply
I'm a little late for the party, but two posts I'd want people to read are:
1. Love the way you lie (with me)
2. A diagnosis of schizophrenia +follow-ups
July 14, 2011 2:06 AM | Posted by : | Reply
"Angell wants this all to be evidence that psychiatry is out of control. Overdiagnosed and overmedicated. She's absolutely right that it is, but she doesn't want to accept the real reason. She wants the reason to be Big Pharma, because she thinks in terms of enemies."
There seem to be several posts around this topic. Perhaps a book about the history of these illnesses, treatments and drugs as they came along, promises and doubts, the current uncerainities and suggestions for future. The kind of arguments that Agnell presents are persuasive because it is easy to find the motives of big pharama but the general progress in terms of research, profit motives, sicial changes, the promise of drugs, their failures and the changes in the culture both physical mental that they might cause seems more difficult to present. Without overstating what one does not really know, a good book along the lines of Siddhartha Mukherjee's book on cancer may be possible. But I also know a book which came from blog posts by Carl Zimmer which did not work (for me).
July 14, 2011 6:26 PM | Posted by : | Reply
You absolutely must include "Social Welfare is a Red Herring"
It's on my list of all time 'Net best; this includes Breath
of the Beast's "Taunting the Tiger" and Stryde Hax's "Where
have all the Hackers Gone?" It's a short list too.
July 29, 2011 10:53 PM | Posted by : | Reply
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August 18, 2011 1:00 AM | Posted by : | Reply
I second what Perry said above, about being a good American, a good doctor and a good teacher. Damn fine writer, too. I would include these among "the most important articles by The Last Psychiatrist you will ever read," but only if we can't have all of them:
1. The Most Important Article On Psychiatry You Will Ever Read
2. The Ten Biggest Mistakes Psychiatrists Make
3. Worse Than The Flu
4. "Are there really so many people with such troubles in your country to make such medicine such an important matter?"
5. The Terrible, Awful Truth about Supplemental Security Income
6. The Diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder: What Does It Really Mean?
7. Ramachandran's Mirror
8. The Sopranos Finale Explained
9. What Hath Google Wrought
10. "Inflammable Means Flammable? What A Country!"
11. A Trip You May Have Taken
August 24, 2011 12:29 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Thanks MsPink for the list. Those are really some good ones.
Clare Morlock @ how can I get my boyfriend back
September 22, 2011 11:42 AM | Posted by : | Reply
"I love the way you lie (to me)."
It was a revelation to me-- describes most of my (ER) patients perfectly--their mysterious motives come clear at last.
September 29, 2011 1:28 AM | Posted by : | Reply
As a freshly minted Psychiatrist, I have found your clinical posts INVALUABLE. It's like a primer on "All the things they didn't teach you in residency." The Suicide Note series in particular, but also the general thought processes regarding critical thinking, skepticism, risk/benefit analysis, forensics, and philosophy. I am constantly referring medical students, and allied health professionals to your posts.
I would pay a handsome sum to have this as a reference book!
October 16, 2011 7:26 PM | Posted by : | Reply
The ones that helped me where the ones about unrealistic expectations.
January 27, 2012 9:38 PM | Posted by : | Reply
my favorite ones are the more storylike ones about children, like the one about the aspie kid. ...how to raise children seems like a pretty timeless one to me...although you have never addressed things that became Big Issues with me and my kid: how to regulate the use of technology (cell phones, laptops, ipods, game boys) and whether or how often to let your kids eat crap fast food...what kind of allowance, if any, to give them at what age...i wish if you must write about narcissism (I'm not saying you are not the best, just that I am sick of the topic) well, I wish you would try to broaden your use of the term so as not to give the asshole narcissists more excuses to call everybody else narcissists in a derogatory way. ...also, when is your kid old ebnough to decide s/he does not want to go to the family church anymore? what do you do when you aren't crazy about your kid being sexually active but don't weant them to end up pregnant or doing it in a car in the woods with potential ax murderers hovering by? can you set it up so they will at least do it at home in their own bedroom and you can pretend you don't know? (that is how my mom did it). (My daughter does basically what she pleases at 15 and makes strikingly good choices which she brags to me baout all the time---- I never would have thought sighing and saying "I wish you wouldn't but I know I can't stop you" would work, but in her case it seems to work fine.....I like the kind of stories Oliver Sacks tells, I wish you had more of those. And I am interested in autism, but asperger's seems to get all the internet attention, and that is not fair. I would kill to see someone write about narcissism from a spiritual perspective (narcissists hate their own humanity, which is kind of dumb) but have been suspecting I'll have to maybe do that one myself, which sounds like a lot of work. ...you know what I hate? that natalie holloway's parents let her go to aruba in the first place. I mean, 17 year old. in aruba. Aruba!!!! it isn't the same as going to fort laudersale. (not that i would be crazy about that idea either). ...i wish someone would write a good book about how to communicate with their loved ones who have behavioral/mental health issues, I have worked in mental health (hospitals on critical care units where there are medical/psych isxues, also a state institution with involuntary civil commits/behavioral health w/in long term care facilities (alzheimer's and other demential patients) and it pisses me, and all my colleagues, off when nobody ever visits until the patient is DYING for God's sake, and then they all stand around and cry, like that is really going to help now. If you ever want to hear about stuff I've learned about that---firsthand stuff plus stuff I've read- email me, I'll spill. I'm sure as a nursing assistant/mental health tech I seee a totally different side of it than the shrinks do (people behave best for the shrinks, cuz the shrinks have power, second best for the nurses, and worst of all for us). (which is actually stupid, as we spend more time with them, but I digress).
December 2, 2012 2:04 AM | Posted by : | Reply
Frosty the Snowman. By far the best of your short stories that i've read.
March 21, 2013 7:00 AM | Posted by : | Reply
Yo, Sigmund. Can you tell the readers if this is going to happen?
April 18, 2013 1:19 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Since I'd give different groupings of posts to different people, guess I'd start by grouping them according to topic?
Some of the medication commentaries are beyond the easy comprehension of some of us - certainly not all, but I can only read and comprehend one in the time it takes me to read five non-math-intensive posts. Maybe those are for the medically educated? (I'm a mechanic.)
Short stories should be grouped by/with topic[s].
To make grouping more difficult/meaningful, try NOT using narcissism as a grouping?
Updates on when this is happening would be cool ...
August 5, 2014 4:50 PM | Posted by : | Reply
Based on your request of posts that aren't necessarily my favorite, nor timeless, but ones that I'd like to send to people, I would say please include any of your posts with the words "the problem is you."
The problem that I have with self-absorbed friends is that even as I'm trying to get them to see how their actions/words impact other people (who have their own thoughts and emotions!), the conversation topic is still about them, therefore the de facto effect of those conversations is that it increases their level of self absorption, rather than decrease it.
I've often read those posts and wished that I could send it to people to read! But they aren't blog readers from what I can tell (can't blame them for that; most blogs including mine are for masturbation).
PS: great work! Really enjoy your writing & critical thinking style. Most posts are quite delicious to read, and even more scrumptious read out loud to a friend.
March 20, 2015 12:56 PM | Posted by : | Reply
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