Dr Jessica Taylor New Book

[Seiheiki]

Hi,

Is anyone else going to the Birmingham book launch of Sexy But Psycho on Sunday night?

sloeslowgin it's the very obvious other lies, such as the 3 different versions of exam results, and the Tahitian pearl post among other things, that cast doubt on everything else she says.

I'm going, looking forward to meeting many fabulous women

I used to follow her, but came off. I felt she alienated people. Good ideas yes, but something turned me off.

@Labtest7

sloeslowgin it's the very obvious other lies, such as the 3 different versions of exam results, and the Tahitian pearl post among other things, that cast doubt on everything else she says.

I was replying to BorgQueen who said The gun thing was bonkers, to put it mildly

Unless BorgQueen is talking about some other incident, then it looks to me as if she's guilty of some embellishment herself! I was expecting something way more outlandish than a neighbour dispute with a man holding an air rifle. She also said:

Certainly a very ‘eventful’ few years, didn’t seem to have all this the drama when she was Jess Eaton.

I don't know what she's getting at by saying Jessica Taylor didn't have this drama before, I haven't been keeping up with the gossip, obviously. But, this is a really snide statement, don't you agree?

I'm not really intersted in the pearl thing, nor the GSCE results - it all seems pretty trivial IMO and a distraction from the work she's doing, which is what matters to me, as a feminist.

I think it's unfortunate that (mostly) younger people seem want to live their lives on social media, but I dare say the way I acted at 30 made my mother's generation roll their eyes too. The problem with social media is it's out there in the world as a record, isn't it?

sloeslowgin the gcse and pearl lies just demonstrate that she is a liar and I can't stand liars.

[quote Labtest7]@Dobedodo[/quote]
This post contains different sources, some of which are written not by Dr Jessica but a journalist, so they could have just got their information wrong, just saying.
She's not the first one to talk about the placebo effects of ant-depressants. I remember Ben Goldacre writing about this years ago: www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jan/26/badscience
I don't know about other claims against her, but I for one am interested to read her book. As someone who lived with repeated domestic violence and abuse as a child, I never received and kind of trauma therapy and have only ever had pills pushed at me when I've been to the doctor. These pills do nothing to make the trauma resolve, that would require talking therapy. I also agree with what another poster said about being abused as a child meaning that you will attract other abusers as they can sniff you out, so I wouldn't at all be surprised if she had experienced more than her fair share of calamities.

Like others I followed her at first and found her interesting - but unfollowed ages ago. I'm sure she has many admirable qualities but I found her social media persona really off-putting.

The numerous posts gloating about her achievements directed at her "haters" - it was so childish and unedifying. The self-promotion and boasting I found cringeworthy, and I don't think it's justified because "men do it all the time" - yes they do, and it's just as cringeworthy!

The self-promotion would put me off ever seeking out their services as I would question her motivation. There are myriad ways in which someone with her qualifications and obvious drive and energy could do a power of good without the constant, self-obsessed posting.

Blaming it on her age is doing her generation a dis-service IMO as I know plenty 30 year olds who don't behave like that online, certainly not in a professional capacity.

I followed her for a few years but she started posting increasingly stupid stuff to get a reaction. The worst was when she claimed that being prescribed SSRI’s intermittently for PMDD was medicalising a completely normal and manageable condition and was using the drugs in a way they are not supposed to be used. PMDD can cause psychosis and suicidal thoughts. For a woman with “Dr” in her name to be stating on Twitter that there’s no need for women suffering from PMDD to take anti depressants could genuinely cause women serious harm. Yet anyone who politely raised these points was shouted down and told they didn’t know what they were talking about.

Also the absolutely constant “I overheard at the pub a bloke talking about beating up his wife”, “man refused to address me as doctor”, “doctor refused to listen to me because I’m a woman” was getting ridiculous. I know these things happen, they do. But they don’t happen every single time you leave the house and with every single man you interact with. It’s just fantastical bullshit and it really put me off what is probably a decent thesis. Advertising for multiple, qualified women to work for free for their business isn’t great feminism either.

Actually having written all that down I’ve realised I’ve found her more annoying than I originally thought 😬

@sloeslowgin none of her tales are unbelievable, none of them are particularly “out there” or suggest she’s invented them out of thin air. But if you have followed her for a while you will see something eventful happens every time she leaves the house. After a while it seems a bit sus.

hollowedout I remember her posting about how people would address her instead of her Indian friend, therefore implying that they were racist. I just don't believe it.

@Tootsweets23

I too am someone who read her previous book with interest but after peculiar behaviour on social media now have come to question her ability to be truthful.

This instance was her claiming to work with lots of victims of satanic abuse, and when other (some male) experts asked her to prove her claims as in their view satanic abuse is a load of nonsense, she then pulled the 'you're all women haters for questioning me'.

She then doubled down, accused them of being misogynists and offered zero evidence to back up her claims. It was quite jaw dropping, and I unfollowed her and now am left questioning her truthfulness in general.

Yes I unfollowed her over that. Her response was so strange .. I'm no expert but even I knew she was talking nonsense. It's a shame because I think she has something to offer, but needs a mentor or a good editor.

I'm not sure about my opinion on the woman, but I am excited about her work. She actually explains at the beginning of e new book that because there are enough people fence sitting on this issue and not making a strong argument, she's not doing to make any of those arguments. I think she has intentionally sat as far as she can on one side of the argument, to create debate and support her position. She of course knows that most people will fall somewhere in the middle, as most people do. But we need people who believe fully in an argument, otherwise if she's so busy apologising for having an opinion and getting lost in nuance and semantics and peace making she's not making her argument. And There are plenty of people with strong opinions on the other side. Yes not all psychiatrists or men sit on that side, ofc not. But there are enough of them that she does not have space in her argument to dilute it to appease everyone. She doesn't want us to all wholeheartedly with with her, she wants us to make space to consider an alternate opinion. And for it be worth anything it needs to be clear and polarised, so that other people can do all the middle stuff later. She's throwing it all out there and creating a debate.

Personally I agree with a lot of what she's says (so far I've barely started the new book so juries out!) but not all of it. I am not expecting to agree with her. I read a lot of books by a lot of people some of whom I don't agree with at all. It's important to me to think critically and formulate my own opinions. But I have got a lot in common with her life experience wise, and a lot of the things she is saying I have been struggling to say for a while. She's vocalising a lot of feelings I have about patriarchy, psychiatry and trauma. The medication issue is harder for me to swallow, because as much as I have had very negative medication experiences and very positive experiences of alternatives, everyone is so different it does seem dangerous to dismiss the medical model entirely (even at the same time I can see from an academic stand point why she is) because a lot of the people influenced by her will take her word and not do the critical reading or soul searching required to draw a more nuanced opinion. Polar opinions can always be dangerous in this way, as of course the opposite end of this argument can be equally dangerous and see people fall victim to medical methods and treatments which seem barbaric and like they belong in history (eg. Electro shock therapy)

I went to an event where she showcased her phd findings. I didn't learn anything new, but she presented them as groundbreaking. Also, when respectfully challenged, she was very rude. Having said this, she is bringing existing ideas to new audiences, so there is that.

It is sad because if she had gone into a clinical training and done the hard work she could have slogged away doing plenty of hard work with women who certainly need it, @Leaningtoweroflisa

Weird take- it takes years to get accepted onto clinpsyc doctorates, lots of unpaid or low paid stuff and courses are highly competitive. It’s a very middle class profession because of all the barriers. Better to work hard at getting your message across outside that toxic system and she apparently had a bad experience with her PhD supervisory team which isnt exceptional at all. How do you know that she hasn’t got clinical supervision or peer review in place? Not being part of the academic/ nhs clinical system is not due to lack of hard work, much wider determinants exist .

She’s obviously seen this thread as she’s currently doing a Twitter space about the Tahitian Pearl story

I think she is very interesting and her ideas are an important part of the conversation.

I also think she isn’t a very skilled researcher. Her survey and analysis were poorly designed. The survey was incredibly leading and I wish she were more open to discussion about it without becoming so defensive.

I like her. I won’t buy her book - i suspect she tweets most of her ideas.

I have a doctorate in psychology and teach research methods.

Hi carryon I’m not sure why you think it is a weird take to suggest that someone passionate about womens mental health would put the work in to end up working professionally in the field of womens mental health? Whether inside the NHS or not? I know literally hundreds of women who have done exactly that, and I suspect more of them than not have a trauma history under their belts…

I also would reflect back at you your assumption that this needs to be a psychological training? I’ve come from a working class background into what is certainly now a very comfortable professional background through medical school, but I work with plenty of nurse therapists who start at band 2 level and work their way up through their graduate career - so the therapist colleagues I have worked with in various settings have come from a wide range of class backgrounds, as well as those of us who are from outside the English class identity altogether and have had to navigate that particular horror of a barrier throughout our careers.

The point is that JT has not done a clinical doctorate or training by her own choice for whatever reason, but is choosing to expound at length on ‘clinical’ matters. I think she could have written a much more interesting book about the sexualisation of women’s mental ill health as in the title ‘sexy but psycho’ and used this as a linkage to the ongoing over medicalisation of our bodies and minds rather than the very tired trope than she has chosen.

I bought the last book and found it very interesting.
I’ve not been inclined to buy the new book…it’s all a bit channel 5.
I feel like DR Jessica has been dumbing herself down. I agree with many things she says says and respect the work she does with women, however, I have concerns about using her work as a legitimate resource.

NTRT

I would not buy her book. When I was on Twitter I asked her a question and she was really rude in reply and patronising. She positions herself as the only expert when there are many people out there working daily directly with people.

[quote Labtest7]@Dobedodo[/quote]
11 B's and 2 C's equates to the 13 A-C's. I teach, this is how they were always referenced.
In regards to the envelope, different exam boards post in different envelopes. Whilst she only shows 1 envelope, it's likely that other envelopes would exist.