(This list of resources was developed for the primarily psychoanalyst audience of a talk I gave at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanaysis, March 2017. The talk presented several psychoanalytic ideas that seem useful for understanding the 2016 election and the “Trump phenomenon” which I will describe in a series of upcoming blog posts. This resource document was intended for the listeners who wanted to be politically active in the ensuing months. It is necessarily incomplete and intended primarily for those who are discontented with the Trump presidency)
Read:
“The Rise of American Authoritarianism” Vox, Amanda Taub, March 1, 2016. http://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11127424/trump-authoritarianism
“What So Many People Don’t Get About the US Working Class”, Joan C. Williams, Harvard Business Review November 10,2016 https://hbr.org/2016/11/what-so-many-people-dont-get-about-the-u-s-working-class
“Why the White Working Class Voted for Trump” Conversation between Joan C. Williams and Curt Nickisch Harvard Business Review November 18, 2016 https://hbr.org/ideacast/2016/11/why-the-white-working-class-voted-for-trump
It Can’t Happen Here, Sinclair Lewis, Signet Classics. Originally published 1935.
“Large Group Identity, Large Group Regression and Massive Violence, Vamik Volkan, 2005
Cass R. Sunstein: “It can be easy and tempting, especially during a presidential campaign, to listen only to opinions that mirror and fortify one’s own. That’s not ideal, because it eliminates learning and makes it impossible for people to understand what they dismiss as “the other side.” …you might want to consider the following books, to help you to understand why so many of your fellow citizens disagree with you”
“Five Books to Change Conservatives Minds”, Cass R. Sunstein, Bloomberg View, November 30, 2017.https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-11-30/five-books-to-change-conservatives-minds
Educate yourself about the Goldwater Rule:
“The Ethics of the APA’s Goldwater Rule”, Jerome Kroll MD & Claire Pouncey, MD Ph.D. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law 44:2:226-235 June 2016
Organizations/Newsletters/Resources for Ongoing Action
Indivisible
https://www.indivisibleguide.com/
“Former Congressional staffers reveal best practices for making Congress listen”
5 Calls
https://5calls.org
“5calls makes calling easy for people who hate making calls”–provides phone numbers and scripts so calling is quick and easy. Uses your location to find your local representatives so your calls have more impact
Daily Action
https://Dailyaction.org
“Resisting extremism in America, one phone call at a time.”
Re:act
https://Reactletter.com
“Re:act is a list of a few concrete things you can do to take action during the Trump presidency. Delivered via e-mail once a week.”
Town Hall Project “Show up, speak out”
https://townhallproject.com/
Immigration
“How You can help refugees in the United States”, Ron Lieber, NY Times, Feb 17, 2017. Online version has links to organizations.
ETHICS OF COMMENTARY ON MENTAL HEALTH OF PUBLIC FIGURES FOR PSYCHIATRISTS, PSYCHOANALYSTS AND PSYCHOLOGISTS
The 2016 election and the early months of the Trump Administration has sparked a vigorous new debate about the so called “Goldwater Rule” which is explained in detail below. As of this writing, February 2017, psychoanalytic and psychiatric organizations are actively debating whether or not the Goldwater Rule should be revised. One important resource is an article by Jerome Kroll and Claire Pouncey in the Journal of Psychiatry and the Law Online, entitled “The Ethics of the APAs Goldwater Rule (J Am Acad Psychiatry Law 44:2:226-235 June 2016). The authors “question whether the Goldwater Rule is too restrictive in cautioning psychiatrists against public commentary and yet too lax to direct individual decision making”.
BACKGROUND
In 1963, during the presidential campaign between Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater, a large number of psychiatrists were surveyed by Fact magazine (now defunct) about Senator Goldwater’s mental fitness for political office. The interviewed psychiatrists were quoted as offering diagnostic impressions such as that Goldwater was psychotic or paranoid. Obviously none had had any personal contact with the Senator. Senator Goldwater successfully sued Fact Magazine for libel.
Following the Goldwater episode the American Psychiatric Association its ethics code to prohibit such commentary on public figures. The American Psychoanalytic Association issued a strongly worded and tightly reasoned position statement directing its members to avoid commenting on public political figures. The authors of the statement state clearly that psychoanalytic observations about public figures necessarily cannot be assumed to have legitimacy. They base this conclusion on a conception, understandable at the time, that the only really useful psychological data about an individual is that obtained through a psychoanalytic relationship.
Strong feelings about political issues may be expected to impair with the psychoanalyst’s objectivity. And, Drs Kohut, Anderson and Moore, authors of the 1964 APsaA statement, point out that severe mental illness in a politician will not escape public notice. Beyond this gross assessment of impairment, they argue, psychoanalysts have no basis to claim scientifically sound judgments. It is important to note that the Kohut et al opinion is based on the issue of professional competence, rather than an arbitrary prohibition. They insist that psychoanalysts’ knowledge about an individual can only derive from a personal clinical assessment in a confidential environment. In 2017, while proper diagnosis should still be considered to depend on a personal interview, it seems to me that psychiatrists and psychoanalysts are well within their sphere of competence to offer expert opinions about observable behavior as long as they don’t make assumptions about the internal mental life of the person being discussed.
When viewed from the angle provided by the issue of competence, the rule for psychoanalysts is analogous to codes of conduct common in other professions. One is expected to practice one’s profession only within ones area of competence. For example, in the American Bar Association’s ethical code, the requirement of competence (possessing sufficient knowledge and skill to represent a client) is the first rule. The full text of the 1964 statement can be seen below.
AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION ETHICS CODE
In the wake of the Goldwater affair, the American Psychiatric Association added the following rules to its ethics code (It is worth recalling that psychoanalysis dominated psychiatry in the 1960’s and vice versa).
Psychiatrists should foster the cooperation of those legitimately concerned with the medical, psychological, social, and legal aspects of mental health and illness. Psychiatrists are encouraged to serve society by advising and consulting with the executive, legislative, and judiciary branches of the government. A psychiatrist should clarify whether he/ she speaks as an individual or as a representative of an organization. Furthermore, psychiatrists should avoid cloaking their public statements with the authority of the profession (e.g., “Psychiatrists know that ”).
Psychiatrists may interpret and share with the public their expertise in the various psychosocial issues that may affect mental health and illness. Psychiatrists should always be mindful of their separate roles as dedicated citizens and as experts in psychological medicine.
On occasion psychiatrists are asked for an opinion about an individual who is in the light of public attention or who has disclosed information about himself/herself through public media. In such circumstances, a psychiatrist may share with the public his or her expertise about psychiatric issues in general. However, it is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion unless he or she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement.
FULL TEXT OF AMERICAN PSYCHOANALYTIC ASSOCIATION POSITION STATEMENT 1964
Following the APA ethics code addition the American Psychoanalytic Association approved the following position statement written by then President Heinz Kohut, Russell Anderson and Burness Moore. (APsaA has not added this to our ethics code as the APA’s did, but relies on the position statements, which do carry the force of the professions consensus judgment. As far as the ethics code is concerned it was considered to be covered by more general statements about professional behavior. I personally disagreed with this decision but lost that fight.)
A STATEMENT ON THE USE OF PSYCHIATRIC OPINIONS IN THE POLITICAL REALM (1964)
BY THE AMERICAN PSYCHOANALYTIC ASSOCIATION
Comments solicited from psychiatrists have been used in a recent article to support conclusions about the mental stability of a political candidate. The American Psychoanalytic Association views with concern such use of professional opinion: unverified impressions, when offered by specialists in any field, may be regarded as authoritative and scientific when in fact they can be neither.
It is understandable that some members of the professions dealing with mental illness might wish—out of a sense of social responsibility—to share their knowledge with the public in order to make a contribution to one of the most important activities in a democracy; the choice of a leader. However, professional judgments regarding the mental stability of any person have to be based on carefully evaluated psychological data which must be secured through a detailed review of the life history and a thorough clinical examination. Such information is most reliable when obtained in a therapeutic relationship in which there is the expectation of confidentiality and the wish to be relieved from emotional suffering as a motivation for self-revelation. These conditions do not exist in a political campaign. Not only are the available data about the emotional stability of a public figure different from those with which the psychiatrist and psychoanalyst usually work, but the strong feelings aroused impair that objectivity which is necessary for scientific assessment of behavior. Psychiatrists and psychoanalysts, no less that other people, are subject to the insecurities and emotions which may distort judgment and are inevitably stirred up during a political campaign.
Although the presence of severe and crippling mental illness is, of course, disqualifying, these conditions do not escape public recognition. Apart from such instances, however, there are no valid, well established psychological criteria which can be applied in the evaluation of the personality of a political leader. It is not the presumed underlying bases of behavior which count, but how these are resolved in final aims and actions. At the present state of our knowledge, therefore, judgments about a political candidate must be based on his views, the political company in which he moves, his past opinions and actions, and those aspects of his character which are open to the scrutiny of all, rather than on an assessment of his emotional conflicts and idiosyncrasies.
Like other citizens, the psychiatrist or psychoanalyst has the right to take sides in public affairs and to express his opinions, privately or publicly, about the candidates competing for office. In so doing, he will, of course, draw from his personal experience, predilections and biases as well as from his scientific knowledge. The American Psychoanalytic Association is convinced, however, that such such private views must not be regarded as scientific inferences that are derived from valid and secure observations. It believes that the use of such views about the psychological fitness of a candidate during an election campaign serves no constructive purpose in the political life of the nation and is potentially damaging to science in general and to psychiatry and psychoanalysis in particular.
10/5/64
Heinz Kohut, M.D., President, The American Psychoanalytic Association
Russell Anderson, M.D., Secretary
Burness E. Moore, M.D., Chairman, Committee on Public Information
EXCERPT FROM AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION CODE OF ETHICS
(Date of this plank unknown)
Standard 5.04
5.04 Media Presentations
When psychologists provide public advice or comment via print, Internet, or other electronic transmission, they take precautions to ensure that statements (1) are based on their professional knowledge, training, or experience in accord with appropriate psychological literature and practice; (2) are otherwise consistent with this Ethics Code; and (3) do not indicate that a professional relationship has been established with the recipient. (See also Standard 2.04, Bases for Scientific and Professional Judgments.)
***
Downloadable PDF version of this document available here
PDF version of the Kroll and Pouncey article available here
Note: The driving spirit behind this toolkit is my strong conviction that many of the ideas that make up psychoanalytic theory are invaluable in understanding social issues, decision making, leadership, politics and just about every aspect of human behavior. For the past decade, I have been promoting the idea among my colleagues that we psychoanalysts need to develop identities as public intellectuals, participating in the vital conversations of our times. Since many of these conversations take place today on the Internet, I have developed several how to guides aimed to help psychoanalysts who are willing to get involved in the public conversation get comfortable. Though targeted at psychoanalytic colleagues, the toolkit should be useful for anyone dipping into the world of blogging. Click here to go to my toolkit on Twitter basics.
Toolkit: How And Why To Blog
Introduction
Psychoanalysts are experts in the deepest and most complex aspects of the human mind–what motivates us, what drives our decisions, how emotion trumps rationality. I would like to encourage deeper engagement by psychoanalysts in the broader cultural arena. We as analysts need to communicate with the public—sharing our ideas about social and cultural issues, conveying the value and benefit of psychoanalytic treatment. Blogging is one of a number of ways psychoanalysts can communicate directly with a wider public audience. Like every other modality it has particular requirements, strengths and weaknesses. This toolkit will tell you the basics about blogging, as well as provide resources that can help you develop your skills and impact.
Definitions
Blog—A blog is a discussion or informational site on a website consisting of discrete entries—essentially brief essays conveying opinions and/or information. It is also used as a verb: “Did you ever consider blogging to attract attention to your society’s activities?”
Post—a Post is an individual entry on a blog. Posts are displayed in reverse chronological order. It’s also a verb: “I posted a new entry on my blog”.
Blogger—An individual who blogs is a blogger. Blogs can also be “multi-author blogs” where a group of individuals shares the writing and posting of entries. This is a good option for a society to consider, but keep in mind that responsibilities must be clear—who is going to post what when?
Components
Main Content—articles listed chronologically (newest at the top)
Archive of older content—This can be indexed by category and key words.
Comments section
Blogroll—a list of links to related sites you think will interest your readers (obvious example, ipa.world.
Reasons to Blog
Find a voice as a public intellectual
Try out ideas, play with them
Practice writing for the public
“Thinking in progress”–Write a book, try out new ideas
Promote psychoanalysis by conveying the explanatory power of psychoanalytic ideas
Connect to the public and other disciplines
Give away information—tips, information, new perspectives on an issue
Self-promotion—draw in potential patients and candidates. Promote a book or event.
Create a record of your thinking
Create a data base for your society
Try new things—ideas, communications tools
Create content so you are visible on the WWW
Create your own voice as a public intellectual in the broader community of thinkers
Where Can you Blog?
A blog is a component of a website. You have several options.
Create a website for the sole purpose of supporting a stand-alone blog. This is an especially good approach if you are thinking of writing a book. The blog becomes a place to record bits and pieces of your thinking that can later be assembled into a book. There are good free applications for this. With a low cost, you can add features such as a personalized domain name.
Often recommended services:
Blogger.com (formerly known as Blogspot)
WordPress.com
Tumblr.com
Check out startablog123.com/best-free-blogging-sites/
Example: richfrankmd.com/blog
Write a blog one component of a website that includes a variety of other features. This can work for an individual or a society.
Example: prudencegourguechon.com
Blog on a large site that aggregates blogs. Examples include Psychology Today, Huffington Post, and major newspapers or citywide sites. This kind of blog requires being recommended or applying to the editor of the site. It helps to have a public information professional help your blog get accepted, but this is not essential.
How to do it
Audience—Think about who you are trying to reach. The general educated public? Parents or teachers? Prospective students or patients? Intellectuals in other disciplines? As you write, keep your target audience in mind.
Voice and Style
Never assume knowledge of psychoanalytic terminology, even for a highly intellectual audience
Limit yourself to two or at the most three psychoanalytic terms per post, and always define each one in ordinary language
Use a conversational tone, as if you’re talking to someone in your target audience
Incorporate stories and humor
Tell a story
Use short sentences, short paragraphs, bullet points
Keep it concise—edit and polish, cut out the fat
Format
Title—this is all-important and deserves its own section (see below)
Length 600-1500 words—or just a couple of sentences!
Easy to scan—Bold Bullet points. Short paragraphs.
Talking points—A format that alwaysseemsto be welcome:
“10 things Freud got right”
“5 fears that plague children during a divorce and what to do about them”
Title
Think: if you saw this title, would you click through to read more?
Principles
Grab the reader
Consider incorporating key words and phrases people are likely to type into a Google search
Example
“Is psychoanalysis right for me?”
Content
Timely and relevant—offer commentary or opinion on breaking news or a current cultural concern
Example: “10 Reasons to Support Gay Marriage”
“Evergreen”—Give advice that is not tied to a particular event
Examples: “Is Psychoanalysis Right for Me?”
“How to Manage the Narcissistic Employee”
Tie your comments to a calendar event—back to school in the fall, graduation or weddings in the early summer, Christmas and family gatherings, etc.
Images
Use images in your blogs-they are expected and strengthen the impact
BUT be careful about images you use. Don’t use copyrighted images without permission and attribution. Take your own pictures on trips and around your home and city, and save them for future blog posts. Here are two sources for photographs that are in the “public domain” andthereforecan be used freely (usually still with attribution-see details on the site).
To enable readers to send your blog to their connections on social media
To invite readers to “follow you” on social media such as Twitter or Facebook
Frequency
The marketing pros advising business recommend 11 times a month
Ideal for an analyst: once a week
Not too bad: once a month
Not great, still worth it: bursts of activity alternating with bursts of silence
Special concerns for psychoanalysts
What about your patients?
Analysts who write frequently and widely for the public commonly report that their patients are not especially concerned or interested in their public writings.
But, always assume your patients are reading everything you write
Patient reactions, if there are any, can always be considered part of the analytic process
Think about how revealing you will be about your political opinions.
Every analyst has to make his or her own judgment about these issues. It can be useful to consult with colleagues who have included public communication as part of their practice for some time.
Medical/psychological disclaimer?
If you are writing in a way that might appear to be giving advice about psychological illness, you might want to include a disclaimer that this is general information and specific questions should be directed to a licensed practitioner
What are the implications of no peer review?
Unlike journal articles, a more familiar means of communication for most analysts, or even some magazine articles, blog posts are not subject to peer review or editorial oversight. So you are entirely responsible for the accuracy and appropriateness of your content. This is freeing, as you can experiment with ideas without the pressure of formal academic review. However, it is a responsibility to keep in mind. Some bloggers rely on colleagues to review their content before posting.
If you work for an institution such as a university, hospital or government agency—Anything you say can reflect on it. Some institutions require vetting before you post your writing. Check with your public information office.
Disclose conflicts of interest
What you say lasts forever and can be quoted. Never write anything you wouldn’t want your patients, your children or your mother to read.
Maximize the Benefit: Integration with Website and Social Media
Integrating blogging with other kinds of public communications on the Internet is the best way to maximize its impact and start to build a community that is interested in your ideas. And to build a network of thinkers who stimulate your own thinking. Here’s how it can go:
Build a website
Write a blog
Include links
Tweet about the blog you wrote
Post about it on Facebook
Announce it on list serves
Include social media icons so that people can share your post
Include social media icons on your blog so that people can follow you
RSS feed –this is something you can add to your blog so that readers can subscribe, and be notified by email when there is a new blog post. Especially important for societies who are using a blog to promote events.
Other Issues and Advanced Topics
COMMENTS—blogs are designed to be interactive. Readers are usually invited to make comments, and the blogger can respond to these comments. But depending on where your blog appears, you may prefer not to accept comments, and you can decide whether or not to respond.
“TROLLS”—this refers to people who write negative, attacking or otherwise noxious comments. Unfortunately the anonymity of the internet can allow and even encourage irrationality, even viciousness. All experts recommend ignoring comments from trolls. Do not answer them.
Add MORE COMPLEX VISUALS such as bits of video or infographics (somewhat advanced)
LANDING PAGES—also an advanced topic, this technique is worth learning about especially for a society that would like to build a database of individuals in the community who are interested in the societies activities. You can use this database to send out newsletters and announcements of events. In your blog, you would put in a link to a landing page. “For more information on parenting adolescents, click here to receive a copy of our white paper on emerging adults”. A landing page is a special purpose page on your website that asks for contact information—name, email address, anything else you want to know about your reader. You gather that information and use it to compile a database for future communications. And don’t forget to send them the paper or information sheet you promised.
Inger Mewburn & Pat Thomson (2013) Why do academics blog? An analysis of audiences, purposes and challenges, Studies in Higher Education, 38:8, 1105-1119, DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2013.835624
Spina, Carli. Finding Public Domain and Creative Commons Media, Harvard Law School Library
Hubspot.com This marketing firm with offices in the US and Britain specializes in a marketing approach known as “inbound marketing”. Essentially, this method draws people to you by providing them with information—for free. Hubspot practices what they recommend and provides all kinds of free advice. Sign up for their free marketing newsletter.
These are examples of sites that collect blogs from many different authors. You have to apply or be invited to have a blog on these sites, but it is often possible if you take the initiative and contact the editor or have a colleague who is already blogging on that site contact their editor and recommend you.
Note: The driving spirit behind this toolkit is my strong conviction that many of the ideas that make up psychoanalytic theory are invaluable in understanding social issues, decision making, leadership, politics and just about every aspect of human behavior. For the past decade, I have been promoting the idea among my colleagues that we psychoanalysts need to develop identities as public intellectuals, participating in the vital conversations of our times. Since many of these conversations take place today on social media, I have developed several how to guides aimed to help psychoanalysts who are willing to get involved in the public conversation get comfortable. Though targeted at psychoanalytic colleagues, the toolkit should be useful for anyone dipping into the world of Twitter. Click here to go to my toolkit on blogging basics.
Toolkit: Twitter Basics
Using Social Media to Develop a Public Voice
Introduction
Twitter is one of a number of different social media platforms widely used to share ideas, announce news, and make connections with people who share your interests. Positive outcomes of becoming involved with social media include:
Practice building
Intellectual stimulation
Promoting the value of psychoanalysis
Importation of new ideas
Making connections
Twitter is particularly well suited for psychoanalysts who wish to communicate in the public arena yet maintain a professional “face”. It is easy to learn and use. You will be in good company if you join twitter—the Pope tweets, as does the President of the United States and public intellectuals like Oliver Sachs and Seven Pinkert. (more examples from other regions are welcome! Please send to resourcelibrary@ipa.world.
Twitter Advantages
Training in brevity, clarity, sharpness of language and thought
Tweet—a post on Twitter—limited to 140 characters (characters!, not words)
Account name/handle—how you are identified on twitter. It always begins with the @ symbol.
Example: Dr. William Massicotte is @wjmanalyst
Example: Dr. Jorge Bruce is @jotabruce
Bio—when you open a Twitter account, you have the opportunity to write a brief biographical statement that identifies you and your purpose.
Example: Dr. Prudence Gourguechon’s account name is @ pgourguechon and she described herself in her biography like this:
“Psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, writer. Interested in applying psychoanalytic thinking to culture and social issues”.
Twitter timeline – this is a list of all the tweets you receive from other people on Twitter. These are posts by the people you “follow” (see below). The most recent tweets are first. Depending on how frequently the people you follow post, your timeline can fill very rapidly.
#Hashtag-A hashtag is a word or phrase (without spaces preceded by the symbol “#” known as a hashtag or pound sign. Learning to use hashtags is important as it allows you to connect to others who are interested in the same concept or event.
Use hashtags in your tweets: Example: “Think #Freud is dead? Think again and read this article on #psychoanalysis”. This is how it works. Any of the 300 million Twitter users interested in psychoanalysis (including you) can put #psychoanalysis in the search box here
And this is what you get:
Photographs related to psychoanalysis
Tweets by everyone else in the world using the same #psychoanalysis hashtag
A list of accounts of individuals and organizations interested in psychoanalysis
Try it. It is amazing.
Another use of hashtags is to tie together tweets around an event. At a congress, you’ll often see a hashtag promoted on posters or projected slides, for example #IPABoston2015. This means that everyone who is tweeting about anything they think is interesting at the IPA Congress uses this hashtag and it links together all their posts.
Following—You chose who to follow on Twitter. When you follow someone, his or her Tweets show up in your timeline. You get to see what they are thinking and what they are up to. To make the most of “following”
Aim for a range of feeds depending on your interests.
Don’t just stick to psychoanalysis. See what thinkers in other fields are doing.
See who your colleagues and people you are following are following—you’ll learn about interesting people and groups to follow that you would have never heard of
Avoid extremely frequent tweeters
Don’t be afraid to “unfollow”
Follow your colleagues
Check out who decides to follow you and follow them back, but only if you are interested in them.
Followers—Your Followers are people who decide they want to see your tweets. You build a following slowly. Don’t worry if you have few followers—they will come. And even if you don’t, following others gives you windows into the thinking of people all over the world.
When you get a follower, look at their feed and see if you want to follow them
Reciprocate if appropriate
Avoid those who are following thousands of people
To thank or not to thank—some people thank every new follower, e.g. they might tweet “@sfreud, thanks for following@. This can be annoying and is not recommended on a routine basis.
Twitter Principles-
Idea-casting not self-casting—aim towards tweeting about ideas, not yourself. “Seeing old friends at #IPABoston2015” is not that interesting. “Neuroscience meets psychoanalysis at #IPABoston2015. See update on #Freud project” is about an idea and is interesting.
Follow first—don’t worry about followers. Look for interesting people to follow.
Learn twitter jargon and tricks (up to a point)
Stick with it
Give away knowledge
Etiquette, Privacy and Ethical Issues
Don’t tweet anything you don’t want your mother, children, and patients to read
Assume your patients are reading ALL your social media entries
Don’t follow your patients
Make a decision about politics
Limit yourself to no more than 20% self promotion
Give away knowledge
Remember, your tweets last forever
Opt for discretion not privacy
How to Tweet
140 characters is the limit for each Tweet
Retweeting—This is the simplest and easiest type of tweet. When you see a tweet by someone you are following that you think contains an interesting idea or bit of information you can just click on the retweet icon and it goes out to all your followers.
Use Links
A link is a bit of live copy the reader can click on to jump somewhere else on the web
Where do you want your readers to go?
A page on your society website?
A blog post or article your wrote?
Learn to substitute short links for long URL’s. These apps help you do it.
Use Images – Add images to your tweets-they strengthen the impact and make your tweets more likely to be noticed and read. Images are also a way to get more information into the tweet—you can add an image of some text, for example, dodging the 140 character limitation.
BUT be careful about images you use. Don’t use copyrighted images without permission and attribution. Take your own pictures on trips and around your home and city, and save them for future tweets. Here are two sources for photographs that are in the “public domain” and therefore can be used freely (usually still with attribution-see details on the site).
Most of your tweets will be on general subjects—opinions about books, films, reactions to cultural events. But try to devote some of your tweets to demonstrating the explanatory power of psychoanalysis. Here’s one approach to consider.
I. Focus on the content for your tweet. Possibilities include:
Your reaction to someone else’s tweet
A current event
A cultural event—book, movie, festival
An experience—lecture or speech
Calendar event—holiday, graduation
Public conflict or issue
Promoting psychoanalysis
II. Think: Can you say something uniquely psychoanalytic?
III. Consider and choose an approach
Give a psychoanalytic slant
Provide in-depth understanding—we stand for “what lies beneath”
Promote general depth of understanding
Use an “applied psychoanalysis” approach
IV. Try choosing one core psychoanalytic concept and applying it to the event or issue
Transference
Countertransference
Resistance
Defense
Conflict
The Unconscious
Development
The relationship as an element of cure
Narrative as an element of cure
Resources
Twitter itself has many easy to follow resources that will help you get started and increase your ability to use Twitter. Go to the Twitter Help Center https://support.twitter.com/ and browse the articles. Once you’ve signed up for twitter, you can find a link to the help center on your profile page at the very bottom on the right.
One article is absolutely essential to read: “Getting Started with Twitter”
Click on it at the help center page or paste this link into your browser:
https://support.twitter.com/articles/215585
Also highly recommended when you are getting started is this article: “The Twitter Glossary”. You can find it at the help center, or go to this url: https://support.twitter.com/articles/166337
I’ve heard several portfolio managers say they wish they could find someone like Wendy Rhoades, performance coach extraordinaire on the wonderful TV show Billions. With the TV show about to launch it’s second season, I thought it would be a good time (and fun) to offer a professional critique of Wendy’s technique. Bottom line–she’s not bad. Especially later in Season 1, she shows how unconscious motivations can lead to very costly decisions, and more importantly how reflection and self awareness of the emotions involved in critical decisions can potentially avoid costly mistakes. Below is the text of a blog post I wrote for Huffington Post, which you can read on HuffPo here.
Just how good is Wendy Rhodes? She’s described by her admirers as “the best performance coach in the business”. I thought the launch of Season 2 of Billions might be a good time for a performance review for Wendy herself.
Showtime, the cable network home of Billions, where Wendy plies her trade, describes her as
“A psychiatrist by trade, Wendy Rhodes combines an avid intellect with a keen understanding of human nature. She used those skills to help Bobby Axelrod build his edge run from the ground up and now works as the company’s star in-house performance coach.”
Until the prequel, we have to take Bobby’s word for it that Wendy helped him build his hedge fund from the ground up. I’m not going to quibble with an “avid intellect” and a “keen understanding of human nature.”
Like Wendy, I’m a psychiatrist, do performance coaching and business consulting. Foregoing modesty, I will describe myself as also having an avid intellect, and share her keen understanding of human nature. I thought viewers might appreciate an assessment of the quality of Wendy’s work. I don’t think Wendy would mind. Peer consultation and supervision is a standard tool psychiatrists and analysts make use of to keep us on our toes. We use colleagues to help us overcome blind spots and check for systematic errors. Not unlike a how a good performance coach can help an investor!
Wendy calls the people she works with “patients” —a mistake in my opinion, for lots of reasons. They are her clients, or more correctly Axe Capital is her client. One hopes she doesn’t prescribe medication if they get clinically depressed, or for their ADHD, and that when they need therapy—for relationship problems, significant anxiety or depression, or anything outside the field of their investment performance– she refers them to a competent colleague for confidential treatment outside the transparent walls of Axe capital. I’m sure she would agree.
How good is her technique and skill when actually working with a client? To my eye it ranges from pretty cheesy to not-too-bad (Pilot, Season 1) to pretty damn good (Season 1, Episode 11).
In the pilot we see Wendy at work in two “sessions” (Personally I’d call them meetings. This is business. It’s like therapy, but it’s not therapy).
image: Showtime
Mick Danzig, played by Nathan Darrow, has scheduled an appointment because he feels he’s “lost his mojo”. Everyone else in the firm is up double digits, and he’s down 4%. He’s lost his confidence, wonders if he’s depressed and needs some Prozac (or something). After asking a few good and important questions (is he sleeping, eating, exercising, having sex, ok at home?) Wendy firmly announces that he doesn’t need medication—he needs to believe in himself again. She says he’s listening to the “wrong voice”—the loud one telling him he’s “just fucking stupid” rather than the quiet one inside that is telling him “where the alpha is.”
Using the word “alpha” correctly in a sentence immediately identifies Wendy as a true insider. I’m not going to try, but suffice it to say that being good at “finding where the alpha is” is what makes you a superstar, and a lot of money. Wendy makes Mick stand up and “confess” that he made 7.2 million last year. She insists he’s got to FEEL that power inside. There’s some chest pounding and impassioned encouragement. Wendy tells Mick forcefully that he’s among the elite— “you’re in the special forces here—you are a Navy SEAL—Did the SEALS make a mistake signing you up? No the SEALS don’t make mistakes! So get out there and do what needs to be done!”
This is kind of clever. Wendy appeals to Mick’s narcissism (“you’re part of the elite”) while simultaneously reminding him of a broader network of authority and brotherhood (the SEALs) that has decided he’s of value so he doesn’t need to make his own decision about himself. In a sense he can lean on the group identification while he regains his balance.
Mick leaves looking decidedly perkier, returning later in the episode with a good bet that earns Bobby’s approval, millions for the firm, and a shy grateful smile for Wendy.
With Mick, Wendy is using the tools of suggestion and motivational exhortation. She uses the force of her own personality and alleged belief in Mick (I didn’t find this entirely convincing) to transfer some energy and confidence into him. I’d call this good old sports coaching and not much more sophisticated than a talented high school football coach. Clever in parts, this session is fraught with manipulation and suggestion, and contains no help for Mick that will foster self-awareness or growth.
Contrast it with an encounter in the pilot between Wendy and Bobby. Bobby is wrestling with an impulse to buy an extraordinarily lavish and expensive house. He tells Wendy that he knows that buying the beach mansion will “unleash the hounds” (of envy and criticism) and that “makes me want it even more”. Wendy congratulates him for understanding the motivation before he makes the purchase, saying that he’s come a long way since they first started working together— “You wouldn’t have recognized the motivation until after the fact”. She’s underlining that through their work he’s increased his capacity for self-reflection, gained knowledge about his own motivation and developed a greater ability to delay action in favor of reflective thought. Wendy leaves him with the thought that understanding is still not enough—he also needs to exercise control. Axe says he has no one else to talk to like this, and that’s undoubtedly true. Wendy is working at a much more sophisticated level here compared to her session with Mick. There’s an ongoing process with Bobby, where they’re working on his capacity to be reflective and self-aware and use that to make better decisions (i.e. exercise control when needed). After praising Wendy for her contribution to his greater self-awareness and self-control, Bobby gets provoked by her husband Chuck and knowingly overrides his self-awareness, giving in to the impulse to buy the house.
Fast forward to Season one, Episode 11—Bobby has just made a colossal mistake on a company. Deliberately ignoring the warnings of his entire staff of analysts, he places an enormous bet that leads to a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. Impressively (maybe we have Wendy to thank for this) he doesn’t blame anyone, but immediately knows that the misjudgment arose from his head, not a miscalculation of the market, and asks Wendy for an emergency meeting. In a long, intimate conversation (that Wendy’s husband observes and mistakenly imagines to be romantic or sexual) the two of them explore the “mistake”. Wendy keeps bringing Bobby back to Donny, his long time friend and co-worker who has recently died (with a very complicated backstory). The viewer knows, but Wendy doesn’t, that Bobby has a secret reason to feel guilty about Donny’s death—for his own gain, he withheld information about potential treatment that could have prolonged Donny’s life.
Nevertheless, Axe has plenty of other things to feel guilty about. He admits to Wendy that he felt relief when Donny died; that if he felt any sadness it was deeply buried. He admits his greatest fear to Wendy—could he be a sociopath, someone who doesn’t have the capacity to feel? With great insight and compassion, I thought, Wendy tells him that he showed his guilt by blowing the bet—punishing himself via both the financial loss and the humiliation in front of his people. She points out that a normal person wouldn’t engage in the behavior he does—but a sociopath wouldn’t care about the consequences. He comes back with a penetrating observation about himself and Wendy — that neither of their “wires” are where they should be—they’re both outliers.
This encounter is moving and effective as drama, and also good TV psychoanalysis. Together Wendy and Bobby explore the way unconscious feelings—in this case guilt—can lead to apparently irrational decisions. But there is a psychic logic to Bobby’s action. Unconscious guilt led to a need to punish himself which led to the bad bet which “fixed” the psychological problem. This is the real deal, and shows how unconscious motives can cause terrible mistakes in business. The process also offers the hope that when making consequential decisions, a deeper understanding of one’s psychology including unconscious feelings and fantasies, could actually prevent costly repeated mistakes.
Wendy is identified from the outset as a psychiatrist, but this later work with Bobby makes it clear that her orientation is at least in part psychoanalytic. She listens in an analytic way, hearing not just the words but the spaces between, the evasions and changes of topic, showing that sometimes the “negative space” in a conversation points to the most important issues. And she uses her understanding of the unconscious and its link to motivation and choice to powerful effect. She was great.
A few details in the series made me squirm. That’s a problem all professionals face, I think, when they see dramatic representations of their work. The departures from real life practice, whether done out of ignorance by the writers and producers, or more probably for dramatic purposes, are ridiculously painful. I want to yell at Wendy for being so stupid about her supposedly confidential notes—for one thing they were dumb and unnecessary, and for another, leaving them on her laptop on bed at home was inexcusable. Couldn’t the writers have found another way to give Chuck a shot at Bobby without such a dumb violation of professional practice? Wendy should have known enough to keep no notes at all.
OK, and I have to say something about her clothes. Black leather leggings in the pilot, some low cut tops later on. A little too sexy, but more importantly too intrusive into the relationships she’s engaged in. She also works a little too hard to maintain control of the physical space—for example, forcing Bobby to come to the “patient” chair before she’ll begin their “session”. She’s forcing people to pay attention to her and acknowledge her power —my read is rather than demonstrating her power with these moves, she’s showing a bit of lack of confidence. She’s trying a little too hard, I think, to prove she’s as powerful as the boys. And all along, they’re desperate for her attention and care.
Compared to other television and film psychiatrists, Wendy’s awfully damn good.
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