The Flawed Case for Executing the Mentally Ill
No civilized or lawful purpose is served by executing the severely mentally ill. Should society exempt severely mentally ill people from the death penalty? The story of Andre Lee Thomas, on death row...
View ArticleOpioids and Appalachia
Richard Fisher of Ironton, Ohio, is realistic about his town. “Drugs are the economy here,” he says. “You either sell them, buy them, or treat people for abusing them.” The 66-year-old retired...
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The Best Minds: A Conversation with Jonathan Rosen
Event Summary On April 25, AEI’s Sally Satel hosted an Edward and Helen Hintz Book Forum discussing Jonathan Rosen’s The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions...
View Article‘Good Girls’ Review: When the Body Is a Battleground
Other body-related disorders and alterations are now in the headlines, but anorexia has never gone away—and deserves a re-examination. Anorexia is not a desire to be thin—it’s a desire to look ill, an...
View ArticleFocus on the Research, Not the Researcher
So-called “positionality statements” are a threat to scientific inquiry. A foundational principle of truth-seeking is the norm of universalism: the concept that work must be judged on its own merits....
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Trauma Therapy Has Captured America—and Prince Harry, Too
The alluring, but spurious, notion that all our problems stem from childhood has infiltrated our society. On the final lap of his book tour last March, Prince Harry sat in a comfy armchair on a living...
View ArticleHis Michael: Review of ‘The Best Minds’ by Jonathan Rosen
The Best Minds opens on a green lawn in a Westchester suburb in 1973. It’s here that the book’s author, Jonathan Rosen, meets his new best friend, Michael Laudor. They are 10 years old. Rosen’s memoir...
View ArticleCities and Severe Mental Illness: The Challenge in New York City and Los Angeles
Event Summary AEI Senior Fellow Sally Satel engaged a panel of experts in a wide-ranging and in-depth conversation on the intersection of homelessness and severe mental illness in New York City and...
View Article30 Years of Listening to Prozac: Depression, Psychiatry, and Culture
Event Summary AEI’s Sally Satel hosted Brown University’s Peter D. Kramer alongside the Atlantic’s Scott Stossel and author Daphne Merkin to discuss the legacy of Dr. Kramer’s 1993 book, Listening to...
View ArticleSocial Justice in Psychotherapy and Beyond
This chapter analyzes the political biases inherent in the now popular “social justice counseling” movement. We trace the origins of “social justice counseling” to the multicultural movement in...
View Article“Defining Deviancy Down” at 30: Reflections on Crime, Welfare, and Mental Health
Event Summary On October 30, AEI’s Sally Satel hosted Brown University’s Glenn C. Loury, Colby College’s Neil Gross, the Manhattan Institute’s Kay S. Hymowitz, and Steven Teles of Johns Hopkins...
View ArticlePhysicians, Heal Thyselves
In the wake of the October 7 attack on Israel, many university presidents issued wishy-washy public declarations. But what about medical schools? The event provoked minimal response, which came in...
View ArticleReport from a Multidisciplinary Symposium on the Future of Living Kidney...
Abstract Virtually all clinicians agree that living donor renal transplantation is the optimal treatment for permanent loss of kidney function. Yet, living donor kidney transplantation has not grown...
View ArticleAddiction Treatment Can Work Even When It’s Not Voluntary
In 2020 Oregon voters approved Measure 110, the nation’s first law decriminalizing possession of small amounts of drugs, including fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamines. Under Measure 110, people...
View ArticleIn Medicine, Center Excellence Not Identity
As part of the drive to “dismantle” racism in medical schools that was ignited by the 2020 murder of George Floyd, medical schools are looking for ways to increase the diversity of their faculties. A...
View ArticleTroubled: A Book Event with Rob Henderson
Event Summary On February 27, AEI’s Sally Satel and Naomi Schaefer Riley hosted author Rob Henderson, who discussed his recent book, Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class. After...
View ArticleA Textbook Case of Social Justice Medicine Run Amok
The American Psychiatric Association is the world’s largest and most influential psychiatric organization. Most notably, it produces the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, considered the bible of...
View ArticleMass General Brigham Puts Antiracism Ahead of Their Patients’ Health
The new policy could compromise the well-being of black women and babies in the name of ‘equity.’ Last Tuesday, Mass General Brigham announced it will stop reporting to child welfare officials...
View Article‘Sociopath’ and ‘Borderline’ Review: Understanding Personality Disorders
‘I’m a liar. I’m a thief. I’m emotionally shallow. I’m mostly immune to remorse and guilt. I’m highly manipulative. I don’t care what other people think.” Thus opens “Sociopath: A Memoir,” by Patric...
View ArticleMedscape Gets Smoked
A large medical-information platform that reaches hundreds of thousands of American physicians and millions more worldwide, Medscape is popular for its broad array of quality educational videos. The...
View ArticleOn the Front Porch with Brent Orrell and Tony Pipa: A Conversation with Keith...
Contemporary rural-urban divisions in America stem from long-term demographic, economic, technological, and social factors. To examine these trends, AEI’s Brent Orrell and Tony Pipa of the Brookings...
View ArticleDoctors Should Leave Their Politics at Home
If medical professionals want to oppose Israel or fight for some cause, they should do it on their own time. Cosplay and die-ins only stress patients, alienate colleagues, and distract from their...
View ArticleInside the Campaign to Blacklist “Zionist” Therapists
Psychiatrist Sally Satel reports on an alarming new trend. In March of this year, a therapist on a professional listserv in Chicago passed on a request by a potential patient seeking a therapist who...
View ArticleWe Need to Try a Tax Credit to Help Fix the Kidney Shortage
What if we could solve the organ donor shortage with a simple tax credit? That is the idea behind the End Kidney Deaths Act (EKDA) (HR 9275). The bill, advanced by the Coalition to Modify NOTA (NOTA...
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