The Ongoing Abuse of the Term Paranoia

In one post, Blumsohn details the claims Blakemore Brown made that were used to label her as “paranoid” by an “expert” witness. More on the “expert” witness to come – suffice to say for now that I hope it does not become standard practice for psychologists to be labeled as “paranoid” by psychiatrists whom they have never met based on the psychiatrists’ interpretation of various documents, most of them emails, regardless of the individual's actual fitness to practice psychology. You can get ahead of the game and read the transcript of the psychiatric testimony at Furious Seasons.

It is interesting that the potential veracity of Blakemore Brown’s claims do not appear to have been examined. If people really are out to get you, then how are you paranoid when you point out that you are in some sort of danger? Mind you, I’m not claiming that paranoia does not exist. I’ve certainly seen paranoia in some people, but just throwing around the term as a political label in order to discredit someone is certainly far from what we should expect from mental health organizations such as the British Psychological Society.

In Blumsohn’s most recent post, he discusses how some researchers seem to have absolutely blown it regarding the prevalence of paranoia. Did you know, for example, that one third of people suffer from “paranoid” fears? Does this seem believable to you? Of course, once someone has been labeled as “paranoid,” then the person can be attacked as “unfit to practice” whatever trade they have learned, as has happened with Lisa Blakemore Brown.

More to come, hopefully soon.