Despite not being a physician, I have read many posts on your blog and I am horrified by what I have read. While I believe that physicians are being treated inhumanely by the PHPs, I do not think that the source of the problem is unique to their experience. In fact, I think the basis for this ideological takeover of “health” began in the 1980s when modern psychology became the predominant belief system (religion) in American society.
Many new ideas, based on the personal writings of psychologists, were introduced at that time. Their purpose was to tell us how to best live our lives. In order to get the public to buy into their agenda, the proposed ideas were formalized by pseudo-scientific “studies,” allegedly “proving” their worth.
For instance, can you remember anyone claiming to have had an “unhealthy relationship” in the 1970s? Not likely. In the 1970s no one had “relationships.” We had relatives (a word we can no longer use), friends, classmates, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives, colleagues, acquaintances, etc. And now what do we have? Relationships. Every connection we have to another human is now termed a relationship – family relationships, intimate relationships, work relationships, and so on. Now that everything is a relationship, the word has lost its meaning, and so has the specificity of human connections. Unfortunately, this change ushered in an era which can be defined by the imposition of superficiality on things which were once substantive.
I believe that living in such a superficial environment has led to nearly universal self-absorption and apathy. That may explain why so few people appear to be interested in your message, despite the fact that ignoring it will cause enormous harm to them in the future.
It is not only those with substance abuse or psychological problems who will be affected by the Religion of Psychology movement. Everyone will lose their rights and their freedom. But since most people have become stupid sheep, blindly following along instead of thinking for themselves and standing up for their rights, it will be difficult to prevent this loss.
Young people used to be the ones who championed causes. Youth and idealism went hand in hand. That was until political correctness made independent thought a “sin.” Like relationship theory, political correctness tells us who we are, what to think, and how to act. There is no room for individuality, no room for questioning, no room for discussion. This is very sad. It will not make for a more humane world. Instead, it will create a world where uniformity and blind conformity are mandatory. What was once life will be mere existence. And what was once meaningful will be perfunctory.
The leaders of the PHPs, and others like them, as overlords of the realm of modern psychology will force their religion on the world and will obtain control of every aspect of our lives in the name of health. This trend has driven me away from conventional medicine and has made me a loner. I have, however, found some hope from Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. Not only is he advocating for a more humane and equal society, and telling people to stand up to the one percent, but he has managed to get a lot of young people to support him.
I do not expect Sanders to win the nomination. But, I am holding out hope that the young people who agree with his message will take up his cause on their own and will fight for their future.
Perhaps you could appeal to those young people to join you in your fight. You would do well to join forces since you are both fighting for human rights and for a future which will still contain Humanity.
Disrupted Physician 
Where on earth did this rant come from? Why was this even posted?
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Not sure what you mean? I don’t think it’s a rant but a remarkably true observation and that’s why I posted it. If I
am wrong I’m all ears Roger.
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Its a good post. And I consider the words ‘Question authority!’ as a little oasis in a desert of authoritarianism, conformism and consumerism all of which increasingly dominate ‘laid-back,’ ‘egalitarian’ Australian culture.
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Well said!
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I have written about the corporate world’s destruction of secondary rewards in favor of monitized quantification. Most professions experience this and it is falsely explained as “burnout.” We, in the professions, must understand, take a stand, and educate the public that, unlike business oriented endeavors, we have other motives in addition to mere money.
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Yes the actors responsible for so called “burnout” are the very one’s offering to screen for it! Insanity. But how do we overcome the cognitive dissonance, apathy and bystander problems?
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After four decades of study, I have absolutely no idea. However, I do have some thoughts on the subject, involving social organization and communication
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Please see my post about conflict between judges and lawyers.
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Wow, I haven’t had a chance to visit your blog for a few days and was surprised to discover that my comment had been converted into a post. What’s more, my words were proven to be true by the first comment on this post.
The commenter, Roger B. Burt, is a clinical psychologist, and clearly a proponent of the formal Psychology viewpoint. In keeping with certain principles of psychology, he attributed negative emotion to my comment because it challenged his field’s world view. He went so far as to call a well reasoned analysis of the effect modern psychology has had on society a “rant.” As a philosopher, I never rant. And I never think with my emotions.
Attributing refusal to agree with psychological theory to negative emotions or mental illness is another core feature of the Religion of Psychology. In fact, this belief system embodies anti-intellectualism. And, that’s the key: society has shifted away from valuing intelligence and reason and has turned towards emotion as the central and only way to experience and interpret life. This shift must be reconsidered if we want to be in a position to solve the world’s problems going forward.
That said, I actually stopped by to make some suggestions for finding allies. My first suggestion is that you post information about organizations, groups and individuals you have already contacted about the problems with the PHPs. If I were you, I would create a highly visible “ally search” page, which would include the name of each entity already contacted and a summary of their stance on this issue.
Doing so would serve two purposes: 1) it would show their constituents and/or supporters how they view such matters (for voting and monetary support purposes), and 2) it would allow interested parties to generate new ideas for obtaining allies. In other words, it would be a good first step in laying the groundwork for organizing opposition to this scam, and others like it.
Since I don’t know who you have contacted, it occurred to me that it might be worthwhile to talk to the people at Science-Based Medicine – https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org. According to their website: “Science-Based Medicine is dedicated to evaluating medical treatments and products of interest to the public in a scientific light, and promoting the highest standards and traditions of science in health care.”
Also, what about medical students? The Boston area is teeming with medical students. Have you approached any of them? Have you contacted any local or national medical student organizations, or posted on any forums where medical students — and residents — discuss issues related to the practice of medicine?
I have a few more ideas for finding allies, but without a clear picture of what you have already tried, I don’t want to invest too much time on it. If you can provide more information about your previous efforts, I, and other readers/supporters, can look for additional ways to gain allies.
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Email me at mllangan1@mac.com
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The leaders of the PHPs, and others like them, as overlords of the realm of modern psychology will force their religion on the world and will obtain control of every aspect of our lives in the name of health… power-full true sad words
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