Finishing my book then having a good lie down – on the couch

Greetings all,

Well, I am very happy to say I wrote the final words of my new book “How Shrinks Think” yesterday (editors changes pending). The last word I wrote was ‘psychiatry’. The last topic I wrote about was psychiatry and social media. Who would have thought that this Facebook avoidee and Twitter ignorant person a year ago would now be embracing this great means of global communication!

It is timely for me to reflect on this change in my learning and outlook. That’s because I don’t think I would have ever finished my book (editors changes pending) if I didn’t receive all the help, support, encouragement and opportunity I have been fortunate to experience in the Twitterverse this year.

Some of my friends and colleagues in my life know I have been writing a book since August 2013. Many don’t. It does feel embarrassing I suppose to announce where ever you go that you will be an author someday. So, in the main I didn’t. But on the rare occasion that I did, people seemed generally interested. They were interested to know what I had written about and incredulous that I could be relatively easy in this era of self-publishing. But largely, I have written the book just for me. I don’t know how it’s going to be received, but regardless, I will continue to remember that.

In all sorts of ways the interrelationship between my experiences on social media and my writing journey have been closer than I would have imagined. I began to ‘play’ with the concept of writing about modern day psychiatry from the ‘inside’ on January 1 2014. I started my blog “How Shrinks Think” to sort out my own thoughts as well as gauge others impressions of what I had to say. I was scary at first but then a whole lot of fun. Then I gained the courage to use my voice as blogger and writer of “How Shrinks Think” in order to enter the world of campaign building. I was very involved in @AHPRAaction in May, and then wrote about the federal government proposed Medicare Co-payment and the effect it would have on those with severe mental illness. This propelled me into re-connecting with colleagues from the past, particularly from my AMA days, including Mukesh Haikerwal, and Amit Vohra. Opportunities arose from this including the privilege of being a speaker at the inaugural AMA(Vic) DiT conference.

I also discovered the talent and experience other doctors in Australia had when it came to writing. Although we have never met face to face, I consider Edwin Kruys in Queensland and Jacquie Garton-Smith in Western Australia to have really inspired me to keep writing and ultimately ending the journey that is the first draft of a book. I was fortunate enough to have some blog posts picked up by Croakey, and managed to connect with psychiatrists in Australia and around the world.

It is no coincidence that I will launch my book at @SoMebythesea on November 15^th 2014. I am organising this workshop amongst incredible people, many  I would never have met were it not for Twitter. It is amazing that virtually all of the organisation and promotion for @SoMebythesea has occurred via the amazing network opportunities of social media. Now I have Dionne Kasian-Lew, Marie Bismark, Mary Freer and Jen Morris coming along to speak at @Somebythesea. All people I have met via networking.

Of course, I have not forgotten my friends from the beginning and pre SoMe. Some are also growing and expanding their social media presence, like the sleep guru David Cunnington. Brad Mckay has been a great mate all along and a wonderful mentor for me in this new foray. My journey did begin with Andrew Griffiths and Kylie Bartlett, and I will always be grateful for their teachings and guidance. And all my friends who have been there, offering advice and encouragement.

So, the next 6 weeks are now in the hands of my editor, Roy Mazucco, and designer, Carly Goodwin. Incredible to believe but if all goes to plan, I will have my book in my hand in 6 weeks. May need to see a psychiatrist to process it all.  

Shrinks and Social Media

I don’t ever remember learning about social media at medical school back in the '90s. Social media was reading the newspaper or a magazine before uni started. In the olden days, merely 20 years ago, we had no idea the www was coming.  Dr Google was somewhere in the lecture theatre but we didn’t recognise him/her, and we couldn’t imagine that there would be communal platforms like Facebook around to unite strangers and label them friends.

Lecturers teaching ethics in medicine did not fathom a world where doctors would live within social media, and have to work their way through the twists and turns of setting up and maintaining Facebook personal pages, doing their best not to be found on social media by their patients, yet really wanting to share photos of recent holidays, and remain in touch with colleagues.They certainly wouldn't have envisaged doctors embracing socila media as an effective means of building communities, promoting evidenced based helath messages and influencing for change. 

Regulatory bodies such as AHPRA and professional associations such as the AMA have tried to keep up with the growing trends of what was considered a fad and considered absolutely not relevant to professionals, certainly doctors, but then had to begrudgingly accepted social media as something here to stay. Unfortunately the regulatory bodies, not the medical profession have advocated for the way social media should be used in medicine, and many doctors remain unaware that they need to know more about social media in medicine.

More and more, doctors want to influence debates on health matters, and nowhere is this more real than in psychiatry and mental illness. In 2014 we must realise that stigma is rife and campaigns such as ’@RUOKday’ and days dedicated to suicide prevention are popular because there still exists a fundamental belief that to be depressed is weak and something to suffer in silence. Large NGO’s with stacks of cash  have departments that run social media campaigns, driving their messages home, influencing the debate and keeping the radar on the topics. But what about doctors? Why do we believe others can pledge our plights and we can be taken as read, without being read, that we support or refute an argument or counterargument without making our own unique and collective point of view known? How do doctors, particularly psychiatrsts feel about campaigns such as @RUOKday, and what are they saying about it?

In Australia, the ABC is running a campaign called 'Mental As' to coinicide with national Mental Health week in October 2014. Great to use high profile celebrities to 'raise awareness', but what does a psychiatrist feel about a campaign being labelled "Mental As?" How do psychiatrists feel about raising awareness for a most valuable area of health, yet with limited funding to provide care when patients seek help?  How do psychiatrists feel about being labelled as those that treat 'mental patients, a most derogatory and stigma enhancing term. Isn't that where psychiatrists can have a say? In summary, advocacy about mental illness on social media is one sided, lacking a robust evidence base and not informed and influenced by experts in the field - psychiatrists themselves.

In the last 5 years it is pleasing to see medical colleges such as RANZCP and RACGP join social media, tweet regularly and highlight very important policy decisions they are making regarding such critical issues as the mental health issues facing asylum seekers and offshore detainees. In recent times we have seen doctors unite over issues they are passionate about such as #AHPRAaction, #ScrapTheCap and #CoPayNoWay. Because the fact is this. Social media is not for posting what you ate for lunch or where you spent your holidays. Social media is for connecting, uniting and advocating as a mass of people from so many walks of life that would never have been able to come together so quickly in any other way. Campaigns on social media work quickly, they pack a punch and they influence.

I write as a novice to social media, coming on board in January 2014 as a naysayer and critic. It was because I didn’t know about this side of social media. I learnt from other professional bodies, dipped my toes in the twitter universe and discovered to my amazement there were people I could find and follow who felt like me. People who admired what I did and followed me back. I quickly joined an amazing campaign called #AHPRAaction and stood up to our regulatory body to defend our rights in the context of social media. Four months after I opened my twitter account. Now I blog regularly, have a company Facebook page, tidied up my LinkedIn profile, set up a psychiatrist’s and registrars group on Linkedin (PARA) which is gaining membership, and have almost finished my first book.

And what about me as a doctor, passionate about psychiatry, and with my experience as a writer and learning the ropes about being a shrink? Well, now I have a voice and a brand. I have stepped forward and claimed my identity that is authentic to me, before others can post about who they think I am. I have bought my domain name www.drhelenschultz.com, and claimed the @Drhelenschultz  twitter handle before somebody else does and pretends to be me. Not a narcissistic thing to do, but a sensible thing to do, as the real estate space in social media gets clogged, people find new ways to influence and may wrongly do so by purporting to be somebody else. And because I want to guarantee my future both in the business and medical world as well as the social media world. The two are intertwined. I love the feeling that I can write what I think and own it, and others can truly decide whether they admire me or not because they know the real me.

As for psychiatry, I will continue to have a presence and a voice on social media, finish my book “How Shrinks Think” and be a thought leader when it comes to our treatment of those with mental illness, and what we can all do better. I’ll stand aside NGO’s and colleges as somebody who works within the system and has a right to have a say. That say will be shouted on social. 


Dr Helen Schultz is a consultant psychiatrist based in Melbourne, Australia. She is also founder of CPD Formulations, a medical education company that creates medical education programs written for doctors by doctors. Her new workshop is called @SoMebythesea, to be held on 15th November 2014, in Torquay, Victoria. It will be the inaugural social media workshop for the medical profession.