Anna Blundy’s anti-psychiatry bias is a regular feature of her column. In the April issue it is accompanied by misreporting and basic errors (“The itch to diagnose Trump,” April).
By my count, fewer than half the 35 signatories to the letter to the New York Times declaring Donald Trump incapable of serving safely as president were psychiatrists, acting in defiance of their profession’s ethical rules. The rest were psychologists, psychoanalysts and social workers, whose professional associations lack equivalent selfdenying ordinances.
Blundy misrepresents the letter as stating that Trump is “seriously mentally ill.” It does not. Nor does it attempt a diagnosis, referring instead to “grave emotional instability.” Her endorsement of her own misreading also betrays a failure to grasp that personality disorder and mental illness are different things.