Ripples of Anti-Semitism and Other Discrimination

Psychiatry & Society

This video series is taking a short break while Dr Moffic travels. For now, enjoy the rerun of this video with updated commentary.

This month of January 2024 has been a dark one as far as sunlight goes, but also for conflictual group relationships. About all our “best of” reruns from a year ago indicate a worsening of the conflicts in the United States and other countries.

For anti-Semitism, covered last January in this video, the issue was worsening, then skyrocketed after the October 7th invasion of Israel and the consequent Israeli war against Hamas. As is usual, a rise in anti-Semitism usually predicts discrimination of other groups.

One of our ethical priorities in psychiatry is to improve the mental health in our communities. Unfortunately, the ripples out from anti-Semitism and other discrimination worsens the mental health of our communities, so there is much for us to address beyond individual patient care.

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 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.