User talk:Cell.83

Psychiatry articles
Hello Cell.83 (cool username, btw) - I read your concerns about the Psychiatry and Controversies about psychiatry articles. I agree that psychiatry is a scientific discipline and that many criticisms of the profession are exaggerated or unfounded. And it is definitely frustrating to see inaccurate information on Wikipedia.

At the same time, the best way to correct inaccuracies is to … correct the inaccuracies. Not that raising concerns on a talk page is bad—it's not. After all, you got my attention, and I made some edits (diff) to the Controversies about psychiatry article as a result. ("Diff" is shorthand for displaying the "before and after" difference when someone edits an article.)

But having raised concerns, the next step, if you want to devote the time and energy to the task, is to gradually learn the whys and wherefores of writing/editing Wikipedia articles, so that you can help improve them.

WikiProject Medicine is one of the most active, well-organized, and committed constituencies on Wikipedia. (Much better than WikiProject Psychology, I must say.) So there's a home for you amongst other folks working in medicine.

I realize you're in medical school, so you don't have gobs of free time (to put it mildly), but it's the gradual, "little bit at a time" improvements to articles that has the biggest impact in the long run.

Last point: I suggest looking at Wikipedia as you would a patient and his/her/their family who are from a completely different culture than your own. Different religious background, different beliefs about health and healing, different gender role expectations, different language, etc. If you are the physician such a patient sees, you have to do your best to understand your patient's cultural background so that you can communicate effectively and treat them with respect and dignity.

Wikipedia is like such a patient because Wikipedia has its own culture, traditions, policies, and procedures. I can rail against the stupid ways things are done here (and there are a few ... ;^), but that's analogous to chastising a patient for "not doing what I said" when I didn't take the time to understand them to begin with.

So, I encourage you to look at this as an exercise in developing cross-cultural competence. You might decide you don't want to invest your time and energy in learning Wikipedia's culture, which is fine. But if you do want to improve the accuracy of Wikipedia articles, understanding this unique, kind of wacky culture at Wikipedia is an important first step.

I wish you all the best - Mark D Worthen PsyD (talk) [he/his/him] 20:03, 19 December 2020 (UTC)