Yale Psychiatrist Issues Diagnosis of "Psychotic" for Defending Constitutional Rights

Dr. Bandy Lee is literally claiming that we are mentally ill and our views should be considered symptoms of our illness, rather than as legitimate ideas.

Publicly offering "professional opinions" or diagnoses in the absence of a psychiatric examination, is a violation of psychiatric ethics and the rules of the American Psychiatric Association.

Dr. Lee has a history of such unethical conduct…. Her resort to diagnosis rather than dialogue is a symptom of a much larger problem that faces our divided nation -- too many Americans are refusing to engage in reasoned dialogue with people with whom they disagree. Dr. Lee is part of that problem, not its solution.

[Bandy, a] Yale professor of forensic psychiatry has diagnosed [this author] as suffering from"psychosis" for expressing legal views that happen to be on the Constitutional rights of President Donald Trump. Dr.Bandy Lee has never met me, never examined me, never seen my medical records, and never spoken to anyone close to me. Yet she is prepared to offer a diagnosis of"psychosis" which she attributes to my being one of President Trump's "followers." (I voted for Hillary Clinton and am a liberal Democrat.)

Indeed, Dr. Lee went even further, diagnosing "the severity and spread of 'shared psychosis' among just about all of Donald Trump's followers." Nor does she seem to be using these psychiatric termsas political metaphors, dangerous as that would be. She is literally claiming that we are mentally ill and our views should be considered symptoms of our illness, rather than as legitimate ideas.

Publicly offering "professional opinions" or diagnoses in the absence of a psychiatric examination, is a violation of psychiatric ethics and the rules of the American Psychiatric Association. According to [this] organization, "it is unethical for a psychiatrist to render a professional opinion to the media about a public figure unless the psychiatrist has examined the person..."

Dr. Lee has a history of such unethical conduct. She previously diagnosed President Trump as being psychotic. Now she is doubling down accusing me of having a "shared psychosis" with President Trump,and having "wholly taken on Trump's symptoms by contagion."

It is difficult to imagine anyone ever hiring Dr. Lee as a forensic psychiatrist to offer an actual diagnosis of a litigant.On cross-examination she would have to admit that she has diagnosed"just about all of Donald Trump's followers" as having"shared psychosis." This would likely include jury members and perhaps the judge, along with millions of voters.

If it is difficult to imagine Dr. Lee as an effective forensic witness,just try to imagine her as a fair teacher. Even at Yale, some of her students are likely to be Trump followers. Would she grade them --or diagnose them? Would she prescribe anti-psychotic drugs to her students who she believed were Trump "followers"? Would she refuse to recommend them because of their illness? Would they been titled to the protection of the American with Disabilities Act?Does she teach her students to diagnose their classmates and friends who disagree with them politically, instead of engaging with them?

Her resort to diagnosis rather than dialogue is a symptom of a much larger problem that faces our divided nation -- too many Americans are refusing to engage in reasoned dialogue with people with whom they disagree.

Dr. Lee is part of that problem, not its solution.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15416/bandy-lee-trump-dershowitz

[TBC: This is just one more confirmation that psychotherapy is a sham. It’s nothing more than “talk therapy” which is “much ado about nothing”—the nothing being its validity and efficacy.]