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Jul 19, 2022Liked by Jesse Meadows

I am so greatful for this podcast. I’ve been researching critical psychiatry and doing my own analysis of the limits of therapy the past year which has been so alienating. Pair that with years of what I would describe as systemic gaslighting, coming to my own conclusions so different from consensus has been scary. Hearing you say these things out loud that I have been thinking for so long has been such a comfort. I just graduated with my MSW with plans of being a therapist and your critiques of therapy as an institution are something I take very seriously. I’ve seen first hand how the goals of therapy are determined by the therapist and determined by capitalist values even when we ourselves believe we are being neutral. I’m currently on a path to being a psychedelic therapist and I believe therapy can be one of many’s sources of healing when the therapist has clearly examined the values of the culture around them.

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Listening to you talk about how ADHD has socially shifted to the top of the hierarchy, I've also been rewatching Clone High from 2002 and the third episode is literally called "A.D.D.: The Last 'D' is for Disorder". I'd love to hear you comment more on this shift and how arbitrary the psychiatric-social hierarchy is!

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oh ya we can talk about this more! I think it has a lot to do with the way ADHD is framed as an entrepreneurial advantage, or something that makes you a creative genius. lots of people like to say ADHD makes them "scientifically" better at being an entrepreneur, which has kinda turned it into an aspirational thing in a way that other DSM labels aren't.

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Coming from a critical psych perspective and queer perspective, what is your view on the medicalization and the pharmaceutical treatment of gender dysphoria?

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i think people should be given the autonomy to define their own identities without being forced to pathologize themselves and be able to access substances with thorough informed consent. i don't think gender dysphoria is a neurobiological disorder, it's a misfit between who you are and how the world sees you, and i don't think hormones are a cure, but as paul preciado said, "an ally in the task of inventing an elsewhere".

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