Originally published in Psychology Today on March 21st, 2017. One of the great privileges of working in psychiatry currently is witnessing the amazing progress of so-called ‘biological psychiatry’. Advances in neurosciences and brain imaging are providing us with closer and closer glimpses of the basis of psychopathology. But for some this reductionism can lead psychiatry…
Category: Well-being
I Think, Therefore I’ll Die
Published in Psychology Today on 29th September 2016. Are you looking forward to reading an article about death? Probably not. Simply reading it-that-must-not-be-named can arrest us in our place. With torturous futility, we fill our heads with whatever is in mind’s reach to ignore one of the surest of facts: To paraphrase Descartes, “I think, therefore I’ll die”. The certainty that our mortality…
Nothing Lasts Forever: How an Atheist Copes With the Fear of Death
Published in Elephant Journal, 19th January 2016: ‘Nothing Lasts Forever: How an Atheist Copes With the Fear of Death’. Excerpt: “Death. Simply reading the word can arrest us in our place, causing an instant tingling of visceral unease. The certainty that our mortality will eventually be realized binds us not only in solidarity, but in…
The Dangers of Pseudo-Profound Bullshit
Published in The Daily Banter, 19th January 2016: ‘The Dangers of Pseudo-Profound Bullshit’. Excerpt: “Though seemingly harmless, there is a sinister element to this digitised Xanax. Under the glowing skin of innocuous pseudo-profundity, they lead to an abscess of anti-modern medicine and pro-alternate medicine content.” “Some may argue that they find comfort in the memes…
Letter From The Rubble Of A Salon Article
Published in The Daily Banter, 11th January 2016: ‘Letter From The Rubble Of A Salon Article’ As The Daily Banter said, “Steve Stankevicius published an article on Salon.com, only for the editors to distort what he said and refuse to change it. This follows a worrying trend on a site that claims to be a serious…
New Atheists Must Become New Vegans: Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and the extra burden on moral leaders
Published on Salon, 10th January 2016: “New atheists must become new vegans: Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and the extra burden on moral leaders”. As some of you might know, Salon altered the title of the article without my consent to include the words “must”, “moral leaders”, and include the names of Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins. This was misleading,…
Free Will versus Psychiatry
The following video was recorded at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry Philosophy & Ethics of Psychiatry Seminar, 27th September 2014.
The Pollution of Good Ideas
It is surprising to see how easily some promising ideas continue to be smeared, tarnished and highjacked by misinformation. For example, discussions on meditation are shrouded in so much ignorance that identifying any proven benefit seems akin to finding decent music on the radio; it’s there, but only if you know where to look, what…
Steve Stankevicius 