Alastair Santhouse

Don’t confuse pills with kindness: mental health in an age of over-diagnosis Thank you ⁦@sarahditum⁩ for this really thoughtful and generous review of my book thetimes.com/culture/books/…

An interesting and scary paper about AI sycophancy and relationship advice. The real dangers of AI may be in the gradual shaping of population beliefs and behaviours, not just the more overt delusions science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

At Golders Green today, The King reaffirmed his support for the Jewish community, following a series of antisemitic attacks. During his time at the Jewish Care centre in North-West London, The King spoke to victims of the recent knife attack that took place in the area on 29th April 2026. His Majesty also met community police force, Shomrim, who were involved in responding to the attacks.

The BMA’s long awaited critique of the Cass review has largely vindicated the findings of the original landmark review into gender identity services for young people bmj.com/content/393/bm…

Jewish people in our country are under constant attack. This is no longer a growing pattern. There is an epidemic of violence against Jewish people. It is now a national emergency and needs to be treated as such by the Government and public authorities.

Does the body really keep the score? A new paper by Steven Kotler & Karl Friston argues trauma isn’t stored in tissues. It’s a prediction error—the brain gets stuck in rigid threat expectations. The key to healing is updating these predictive models, and Flow states are one of the best ways to rewire that flexibility! #share" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">frontiersin.org/journals/syste… @KarlFristonNews #Neuroscience #Trauma #PredictiveCoding #PTSD #FlowState #ActiveInference #MentalHealthResearch #Metastability

To: Admitted Students on Ivy Decision Day From: UATX Congratulations. Getting in was hard and you should be proud. Now here’s some unsolicited advice so you don’t waste the next four years. Go to class. We know this sounds obvious. But as the New York Times reported recently, Harvard students routinely skip class, rarely speak up when they're there, and focus on their devices instead of the discussion. Faculty say few students do enough preparation to contribute meaningfully. The average college student spends about 20 hours a week on class and studying combined. At UATX, we aim for 50. That’s the difference between a part-time commitment and a full-time job. You (or your parents) are about to spend upwards of $90K a year. If you don't show up, you're paying roughly $250 per skipped lecture for the privilege of sleeping in. Read the books yourself. Your generation is the first to arrive at college post-literate — raised on short-form video, dependent on algorithms, and increasingly incapable of sitting with a difficult text long enough to let it change your mind. Ninety percent of college students use AI academically. This makes you more reliant on the authority of others. Most professors will also stand between you and the text. They’ll tell you what Marx “really meant,” what Aristotle “failed to see,” as though an academic in 2026 has outsmarted minds that shaped civilizations. The good professors do the opposite: they put you in front of the book and they work with you to find what a great mind has to teach us directly. Find those professors, and read everything yourself. Say what you actually think. Seventy-three percent of conservative students report withholding their political views in class out of fear their grades will suffer. Our advice isn't political; it's intellectual. If you spend four years learning to say what's expected instead of what's true, you’ll graduate roughly where you started — just older, more credentialed, and more practiced at self-censorship. One study finds that nearly half of students show no measurable gains in “critical thinking” after two years in college. Keep this in mind as you make decisions about which professors to take and how to do your assignments. Taking a small hit on your paper to gain integrity and wisdom is usually worth it. Ask for real grades. Sixty percent of Harvard undergraduate grades are now A’s. Twenty-five years ago, it was 20%. It got so bad that the legendary Harvard professor, Harvey Mansfield, started giving students two grades: the official one for their transcript, and a private one reflecting what they actually earned. He called the official grades “ironic.” So here's a suggestion: Take your A, but also ask your professors for a “Mansfield grade” so that you know where you stand. And don’t avoid difficult courses to keep your transcript clean for law school. Get work experience before you graduate. Forty-two percent of recent college graduates are working jobs that don't require a degree. Many employers are projecting the next few years to be the worst college grad job market in years. A degree alone — even from an Ivy — is not a job guarantee. Seek out apprenticeships, internships, and real work starting freshman year. The students at UATX are connected with entrepreneurs and business leaders from day one. Many will graduate with four years of work experience alongside their degree. You can build something similar at your school, but you'll have to do it yourself. Understand how debt shapes your life. If you're paying full freight or even half, do the math with your eyes open. Your decision to take on debt will quietly reshape the trajectory of your adult life through countless small surrenders: the job you take because it’s safe instead of starting the company. The city you choose to live in. The relationship you delay and the kids you don’t have. For women, a $1,000 increase in student loan debt lowers the odds of marriage by 2% per month in the first four years after graduation. None of that shows up in the college brochure. If you're going to take on debt, treat it like the constraint it is from day one: save aggressively and make sure every dollar is buying something that will actually compound in your favor. Find the people who take school seriously. The best thing about a great school isn't the lectures or the library. It's the handful of professors and students who are genuinely there to learn — who read ahead, argue in good faith, and push you to be sharper. Find them. UATX is a small community of those who seek a serious education. At a larger university, you have to build this community yourself. * The most dangerous thing about an elite university is that it is very easy to do nothing for four years and still come out looking successful. The transcript will say you excelled. The diploma with the fancy crest will open certain doors. Your parents will be proud. And yet you will have coasted — through inflated grades, unread books, and borrowed opinions. Getting in is an accomplishment. Making the next four years worth it will be harder, and the right decisions will change everything. We wish you luck.

Having studied, researched & treated people with psychosis for 45 years & through research defined the minimum dose & timing of offering antipsychosis meds, I can state this opinion is false. While there is crude & over-use of AP meds on & off label, they do treat core symptoms

What are the new and emerging treatments for anxiety disorders? We summarize these in a new review: bmj.com/content/392/bm…

Major new study in The Lancet finds no evidence to suggest medicinal cannabis is effective for treating depression, anxiety or PTSD

I’m in Israel too and help from the FCDO has consisted of 2 content-free emails Other countries seem to be far more proactive. Really disappointing.

What international law couldn’t stop Iran from doing: -Assassination plots in Paris. Berlin. Copenhagen. -Terror strikes from Buenos Aires to Beirut. -Proxy wars in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Gaza. -Executing protesters. Including children. -Nuclear cheating for two decades. -Financing October 7. -Hijacking global shipping lanes. -much more All documented. All unpunished. That is the crisis of rules-based order, not just Ukraine.

@stephenpollard By chance, I happened to read this post while I was in a bomb shelter in Tel Aviv. I was there with people young and old, from a range of countries, and different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. I thought of replying to her, but then thought what’s the point?

This is a straightforward lie. Made up. Entirely untrue. And so easily disprovable all it does is demonstrate the mania that takes over Jew haters and stops them thinking rationally

The Iranian women’s national football team refused to sing the anthem of the Islamic Regime. Tonight. At the opening match of the Asian Cup. In front of the entire world. So, to all liberal Western women: Watch and learn. THIS is what real feminism looks like.

Awful that @dannythefink had to write this, essential that we read it

Twitter needs a button that's "bring back that tweet I was just starting to read before you automatically refreshed."

It’s interesting how 'chemical imbalance' is framed like the worst thing that ever happened. But 'dopamine optimisation' ? Suddenly, everyone’s a neuroscientist with a morning routine and a supplement stack. The same marketing trick… with nicer packaging?

‘I worry about overdiagnosis’ – Expert reacts mental health services review channel4.com/news/i-worry-a…

"I'm arguing for accurately made correct diagnoses". Find my interview with Dr Alastair Santhouse at patreon.com/hkpodcasts or hughkeir.substack.com

I had a really interesting discussion with Liz Tucker on her excellent podcast Medical Evidence Matters. The topic of the discussion is whether we are currently overdiagnosing mental health conditions. Definitely worth a listen! open.spotify.com/episode/2qQZmF…