P-Day and Psychiatry

This video series is taking a short break while Dr Moffic travels. For now, enjoy the rerun of this video with updated commentary.

About this time last year, this video focused on the 80th anniversary of D-Day and how much that contributed to the end of World War II. Yet, more prevention of wars would reduce the extraordinary loss of lives and major trauma. Now, still, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza continue, though both have looked not only to have been preventable, but ended.

At the same time as the Tony Awards ceremony in New York on Sunday night, across the country a real life drama was playing out. At a much, much more limited level—so far—a sort of 3-way conflict involving protestors against the deportation of immigrants, federal troops called in by the President, and the California governor took place in downtown Los Angeles.

And so, I name today as P-Day for prevention in psychiatry, prevention not only for peace, but early onset of treatment, especially for such disorders as posttraumatic stress disorder. Is there a role for psychiatry in such social conflicts, whether that be a response from the American Psychiatric Association or local psychiatrists in Los Angeles, or something else?

The genesis of human destructive conflict at various levels seems to come at least in part from the same vulnerable source in our human nature: undue fear and scapegoating of the “other,” resulting in a quest for power over over them. Without more compassion and cooperation, the ultimate risk would be something like World War III.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.