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The field of psychiatry is currently under threat, and we are not responding effectively.

Psychiatrists need to move towards, not away from, the things that make us unique.

Specific steps we can take include returning to more in-person care, and moving away from "med checks."

This is not an anti-psychiatry post. I love my profession. I have seen it literally save lives and pull people out of very deep holes. But the very existence of psychiatry is under threat, and we are not responding in an effective way.

My beloved colleagues, it is time for some tough love.

We currently have psychologists doing this work with no medical training. We have nurses doing this work with no psychotherapy training. And, of course, we have emerging AI technology and all of its corporate backers, looking for an opportunity to take this work away from human beings altogether.

Our essential problem is that we are playing right into their hands. At the precise time that we should be leaning into what distinguishes us from other mental health professionals (and chatbots), our practices are becoming more homogenized, restrictive, and impersonal. At the exact time that we need data to support the........

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