Psychiatric Inaugurations

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PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

Yesterday, Donald Trump was inaugurated as President of the United States. Formally, the presidential oath of office is the only constitutional inauguration requirement. There usually is an inaugural address and various other events pre and post the oath that may occur, from parades to poetry. The Oath is as follows:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

How to follow that oath leaves a lot of room for interpretation. In his inaugural address, President Trump called the day Liberation Day. There actually is a liberation psychiatry movement and an edited book available on the subject, which focuses on reducing political, social, and psychological oppression, though I am not sure that is what Trump had in mind.¹

I am not sure if there is any such formal inauguration of our yearly presidents of the American Psychiatric Association, though there is always an introductory speech and acceptance speech at the annual meeting. How to improve psychiatry is also open to various interpretations based on our ethical priorities and principles.

Besides that, as I am always trying to connect societal events to basic psychiatric processes, I wonder about the other possible similarities. For instance, what in the inauguration of each new clinical process has some similarity to our presidential inauguration?

Generally speaking, psychiatrists have taken some sort of oath in graduation from medical school. The most well-known and traditional is the Hippocratic Oath. It may be hung on an office wall, but is rarely recited to new patients.

The most specific legal document is one of informed consent for the patient to sign. The basic reasons for a therapeutic intervention are stated along with the potential risks. This evaluation is the beginning of a therapeutic alliance, perhaps akin to the public alliance of an inauguration day. Just as the well-being of the nation will depend on the specific execution of the inaugural oath, so will the mental well-being of our patients depend on the execution of our therapeutic plans.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

Reference

1. Cohen C, Timimi S, eds. Liberatory Psychiatry. Cambridge University Press; 2008.