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In Defense of Disordered Grief

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Reposted by Awais Aftab

Robert Chapman @drrobertchapman.bsky.social · 3d

Experiences of transphobia over the past year have made me sometimes regret coming out as nonbinary for the first time. I've long received hatemail and death threats for being a public-ish trans person, but that wasn't so bad and it never made me regret being out. Things are getting so much worse.

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Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 3d

“The recognition that some instances of grief veer off course and enter pathological territory is not new. It goes back at least to Freud himself. John Bowlby, the father of attachment theory, recognized pathological grief.”

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Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 3d

“The only thing the one-year requirement says is that it can’t be prolonged grief disorder before one year. It doesn’t mean that anything after one year is abnormal.
The clinical significance, functional impairment, and deviation from sociocultural norms criteria mean that you cannot be diagnosed just because you experience intense or frequent grief. The point in both DSM and ICD is maladaptation and stuckness, not the passage of a fixed interval of time or a certain number of symptoms.”

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Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 3d

In Defense of Disordered Grief

No, grief has not been given an expiration date

www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/in-defense...

No, grief has not been given an expiration date

Autism, A.D.H.D., Anxiety: Can a Diagnosis Make You Better?

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Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 5d

The link in my post should be a gift link as well (at least that’s what I think I posted!)

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Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 5d

Grateful to see this layered and multifaceted discussion in the @nytimes.com by @ellenbarry.bsky.social about recent work by @alanlevinovitz.bsky.social and me on the Rumpelstiltskin effect (the therapeutic relief experienced on receiving a diagnosis)

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/s...

www.nytimes.com

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Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 7d

Are We All Just Having 'Understandable Human Reactions'? — Jesse Meadows

“Sami Timimi's new book paints neurodivergent and trans people as dupes of neoliberalism”

www.sluggish.xyz/p/are-we-all...

Are We All Just Having 'Understandable Human Reactions'?

Sami Timimi's new book paints neurodivergent and trans people as dupes of neoliberalism

www.sluggish.xyz

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Reposted by Awais Aftab

Isaac Baldwin @ibaldwin.bsky.social · 8d

“Boredom proneness overlaps with inattention and impulsivity but does not capture hyperactivity, working memory deficits, or problems with planning and organization.”

Excellent article. An example of this distinction: the higher risk of car accidents is probably not due to boredom proneness alone.

Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 11d

ADHD, Boredom Proneness, and the Pills That Make Tedium Tolerable

www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/adhd-bored...

ADHD, Boredom Proneness, and the Pills That Make Tedium Tolerable

Exploring the relationship between ADHD and boredom

ADHD, Boredom Proneness, and the Pills That Make Tedium Tolerable

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Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 10d

🙏🏻

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Reposted by Awais Aftab

Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 11d

ADHD, Boredom Proneness, and the Pills That Make Tedium Tolerable

www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/adhd-bored...

Exploring the relationship between ADHD and boredom

ADHD, Boredom Proneness, and the Pills That Make Tedium Tolerable

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Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 10d

these stories of “I can function better because I am doing work that I am highly interested in” aren’t counterexamples to ADHD as a “real” clinical disorder. They demonstrate how the distress and impairment of ADHD is a product of individual-environment interactions

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Reposted by Awais Aftab

Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 11d

Really insightful (once again). Thank you for it. I appreciate your reframe on this topic, embracing neurodiversity while also explaining in a non-dismissive way the rationale behind those that opt for treatment.

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Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 11d

ADHD, Boredom Proneness, and the Pills That Make Tedium Tolerable

www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/adhd-bored...

Exploring the relationship between ADHD and boredom

2 5 13

Reposted by Awais Aftab

Konrad Banicki @castalia1981.bsky.social · 14d

I am very excited about the upcoming seventh edition of the Institute of Applied Psychology Interdisciplinary Series (IAPIS, ips.uj.edu.pl/nauka/iapis/... & @jagiellonskiuni.bsky.social)

To register for the first talk use: forms.gle/GcnHuj3rhamH...

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Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 16d

Congrats! ☺️

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Reposted by Awais Aftab

Robert Howard @profrobhoward.bsky.social · 17d

BlueSky friends, forgive me for not posting much on here. I'm standing for President of the RCPsych in the elections next March. I'm still speaking and listening to friends and colleagues about what is important, but you can learn about what I would do if successful here: www.profrobhoward.com

ProfRobHoward

www.profrobhoward.com

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Reposted by Awais Aftab

lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 16d

Just got an email from a scam academic journal asking if I wanted to "explore new advances in White Psychodrama" and it's just got me like: buddy, I can watch the news myself.

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Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 16d

Reposting for the Monday crowd 👇🏽

Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 18d

Rewriting the Grand Plan of Clinical Neuroscience

A Review of “Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn’t Solved Brain Disorders—and How We Can Change That” by Nicole C. Rust ( @nicolecrust.bsky.social )

www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/rewriting-...

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Reposted by Awais Aftab

Thomas Bienvenu @thomasbienvenu.bsky.social · 17d

Very insightful as usual from @awaisaftab.bsky.social reviewing Elusive cures.
👇One sentence I wish applied to research in 2025 🇫🇷 where 10s of M€ are still being thrown out in dead-end reductionism in a promise to solve things while following the same path.

Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 18d

Rewriting the Grand Plan of Clinical Neuroscience

A Review of “Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn’t Solved Brain Disorders—and How We Can Change That” by Nicole C. Rust ( @nicolecrust.bsky.social )

www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/rewriting-...

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Reposted by Awais Aftab

Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 18d

Rewriting the Grand Plan of Clinical Neuroscience

A Review of “Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn’t Solved Brain Disorders—and How We Can Change That” by Nicole C. Rust ( @nicolecrust.bsky.social )

www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/rewriting-...

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Reposted by Awais Aftab

A. Rascal @rascality.bsky.social · 18d

My psychiatric training was in the mid-2010s while this conceptual transformation in neuroscience was taking place. The neuroscience I encountered during psychiatric training bore a distinctly reductionistic flavor.

The emphasis was on the search for neurological correlates: which neurotransmitter aligns with which symptom, which brain regions are associated with which clinical presentation, which circuit is disrupted in which disorder, etc. It was productive in its own way but ultimately limited in what it could accomplish.

Later, guided by the writings of public-facing scientists such as Lisa Feldman Barrett, Anil Seth, Mark Solms, Luiz Pessoa, and Karl Friston, I stumbled onto the new intellectual landscape of neuroscience, one that emphasized the complex, dynamic, computational, predictive, and enactive characteristics.

The new language was one of feedback loops, information processing, and embodied cognition. The difference was striking.

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Reposted by Awais Aftab

C @notmiddlec.bsky.social · 18d

20+ years ago I hypothesized that there would continue to be this back and forth in conceptualization of various human conditions and sufferings. I think we just need to work with each other with humility, like what Rust does.

p.s. I adore Eric Kandel's cute bow-ties.

Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 18d

Rewriting the Grand Plan of Clinical Neuroscience

A Review of “Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn’t Solved Brain Disorders—and How We Can Change That” by Nicole C. Rust ( @nicolecrust.bsky.social )

www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/rewriting-...