The American Spectator

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Campus Psychiatry Comes Clean

By Robert VerBruggen on 12.6.06 @ 12:07AM

Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness in Her Profession Endangers Every Student
by Anonymous, M.D.
(Sentinel, 224 pages, $23.95)

IT'S NO SECRET THAT college campuses tend left. A professor brainwashes his students here, a radical student group opposes fighting al-Qaeda there. Until now, though, little attention has been paid to another aspect of collegiate life: mental health services.

It's a touchy subject indeed. The author of Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness in her Profession Endangers Every Student goes by "Anonymous, M.D." The work has moments of stunning brilliance, though the author strays from her areas of expertise and sometimes writes with overexuberance.

Chapter I is the book's crown jewel, with Anonymous walking the path of hot coals known as promiscuous sex. She's not concerned with STDs or morality yet, though -- it turns out sexual activity has emotional consequences particularly pronounced in women.

The author tackles the topic almost effortlessly, starting with the story of "Heather," who began experiencing "moodiness and crying spells" after obtaining a "friend with benefits." Anonymous argues that Heather's problem is oxytocin, a hormone that induces birth and, more importantly for a 19-year-old, creates a sense of attachment and trust.

It's released during sexual activity, even when Heather is "'hooking up' with men whose last intention is to bond." Anonymous also cites evidence that sexually active teen females experience more depression and suicide attempts than inactive girls, and that romantic involvement hurts young females more than it hurts males.

Worst of all, the mental health profession is silent. There are no brochures, no policy statements from prominent organizations on the topic. The establishment is too focused on the dogmas that men and women are the same and sex with protection is harmless.

Perhaps most interesting is the case Anonymous builds from this information: Campus mental health professionals should actively promote student chastity -- not necessarily in an abstinence-only fashion, but in an abstinence-encouraging one. A health nannyism of the right, if you will.

Many, libertarians in particular, will have a problem with this. The argument goes that doctors should inform patients of their risks and let their customers work out the tradeoffs. A physician is obliged to tell a patient that smoking kills, but the patient gets to decide whether the benefits outweigh the risks.

A fine point, yet this view does not hold sway in medical circles. It is common practice for professionals to nag patients to floss, exercise, eat right and drink less. In this way Anonymous's argument is intellectually honest; there is no case for behavior molding in these areas that wouldn't apply to sexual activity.

Anonymous is also convincing when it comes to post-abortion stress. Again starting with one of her patients ("Kelly"), the author lays out an undeniable pattern of women who have abortions, only to experience depression and sometimes Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The writer is careful to point out these cases are rare; by one study about 20 percent of women become depressed to some degree, and one percent get PTSD.

But in the cases that do occur, the symptoms go largely untreated, with not so much as a follow-up exam. During standard psychological interrogations, doctors don't even ask if women have been pregnant. Anonymous logs on to the website afterabortion.com, finding that the Internet is the only place many sufferers have to talk things through.

The writer makes a good point that, with most medical procedures, patients are warned of every possible complication no matter how minute the chance. With abortion, she says the rush is to put the operation in perspective, to show the woman how harmless and routine it is.

She's also correct that post-abortion stress is not an argument against abortion -- at least no more than stretch marks and postpartum depression are arguments for it. Something medically risky is bound to happen when a woman gets pregnant, whether it destroys a "fetus" or gives life to a baby.

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