So many issues with this article, the biggest being that it misrepresents what "duty to warn" is.

Do psychiatrists and other mental health professionals have a "duty to warn" the public about a potentially dangerous president?

1/9: https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-psychiatry-complicit-trump-presidency-20200831-gi3upaxn5nemtmly4b5subik3m-story.html

2/9 The idea of therapists having a duty to warn arose from a famous case in which a Berkeley student told his therapist he wanted to kill a woman who had spurned his affections, and then did. Her name was Tatiana Tarasoff, thus the duty became known as the "Tarasoff Duty".

3/9 Her family sued UC Berkeley and the therapist, and ultimately the Supreme Court ruled that therapist have not just an option, but a duty, to warn of danger their patients pose, and that this overrides the patient's right to privacy.

BUT ONLY IN VERY SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES:

4/9 The threat has to be made:
-of serious bodily injury
-to a psychotherapist
-about a reasonably identifiable victim(s)

Telling your dermatologist you just want to kill everyone doesn't cut the mustard!

5/9 And while the original decision specified a "duty to warn", multiple court cases and statutory revisions ultimately resulted in therapists *in California* having only a duty to PROTECT (which can involve but does not require, warning). Lots of confusion lingers on this point!

6/9 Many other states followed suit, passing legislation that allowed or required therapists to take steps to protect potential victims under similar circumstances BUT:

7/9 THERE IS NO LAW OR DUTY REQUIRING MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS TO WARN THE GENERAL PUBLIC ABOUT PUBLIC FIGURES THEY PERCEIVE TO BE DANGEROUS WHO ARE NOT THEIR PATIENTS!

Psychiatrists have no duty to warn here because:

8/9
-Trump isn't their patient
-he hasn't made specific threats of violence against a reasonably identifiable victim
-warning in this case would very little to *protect*, which. is the duty that could actually be invoked if targeted violence were threatened by a patient

9/9 I guess we could just yell, "Hey, everyone, he's doing a terrible job!", but you certainly don't need to be a trained mental health professional to know that.

And you definitely don't need to be a trained mental health professional to vote him out of office.

#PsychTwitter #MedTwitter @psychunseen @jack_turban @ChaseTMAnderson @DrWinarick @ViolenceWonks @tylerblack32 @clinkshrink @shrinkrapdinah @evolutionarypsy
and thanks to @drjessigold for passing this article along to me, knowing it would inspire some rage-tweeting!