Ariel Tabachnik, MD

Psychiatrist interested in young adult & military veteran populations and psychotherapy. I also enjoy exploring psychiatric themes in art/media.
Opinions mine.

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

Gogol's Diary of a Madman is a great case study of the ego-syntonic delusion. @RussianArts Theater brought it to life beautifully this evening in their brilliant quasi-absurdist production. @atobiamd

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

@harveyforny @SenGonzalezNY help @MSSNYtweet protect patient safety by opposing legislation (S.66-A/A.1262-A) that would allow psychologists without medical degrees to prescribe psychotropic medications. #ProtectPatients https://t.co/yw1ptJCwA6

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

Horror film Smile refers to the cyclical nature of trauma, but it was a disastrous lesson in bad doctoring (pt in acute distress seen alone with door closed & potential weapons in reach, absolute non-existence of emergency meds to treat psychosis and acute distress). @atobiamd

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

Watched I Care A Lot & Don't Worry, Darling back to back. Both films (enjoyable yet average) touched upon the dark side of psychiatry - its ability to be misused to silence, imprison, and gaslight. Humbling reminder of what psychosis can feel like. @atobiamd

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

Regardless of what one may think of Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga in #Macbeth, Ruth portrayed Lady Macbeth's Act V delirium quite well. In Shakespeare's time, it's likely all delirium was called sleepwalking, regardless of whether or not a sleep-wake disorder existed. @atobiamd

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

@PShapMD Respectfully, if you're gonna burn it, can I just take it off your hands so I could continue living my life to its fullest while mitigating risk to others?

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

Controversial 1981 horror film Possession is complex, with many layers I no doubt missed and need to rewatch to fully grasp. However, based on one particular flashback scene, my interpretation is that the film is as much about postpartum psychosis as marital strife. @atobiamd

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

@PShapMD Likely my last tweet for the night (it's late), I just want to circle back to the initial point - you were implying if I understood correctly that such cautionary tale tweets are rare and alarming, but I don't think they are. We caution people all the time with relatable stories.

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

@PShapMD But that's not misinformation. Antivax propaganda regarding its harms is misinformation. While you're right that other diseases can harm others, we already do caution against secondhand smoke. Being a victim of somebody else's bad choice in those cases is less preventable.

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

@PShapMD I don't disagree that demographics and immunity aren't discussed to the extent they should be (as I pointed out to my young cancer survivor, whom I convinced to get vaccinated based on her demographics). Community wide harm reduction strategies in an emergency are often limited.

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

@PShapMD Also, most people know that insulin, healthy dietary choices, and exercise are important interventions for disease prevention. Most know that various medications are important secondary or tertiary prevention. Most don't receive misinformation about those interventions.

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

@PShapMD But also, yes - if somebody states on their deathbed that they wished they'd lived a healthier lifestyle in some way, or taken their insulin, I would see that as a cautionary tale though- albeit one where the intervention is far less simple and effective.

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

@PShapMD I did consider that. But I don't see most other diseases as equivalent, as someone's choice to smoke doesn't give lung cancer to others. Someone dying as a consequence of a poor choice doesn't increase the likelihood of others dying in most cases.

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

@PShapMD I don't interpret this as shaming, though. Shaming is saying he deserved to die for not doing it. This is a patient's own regrets in their own words, and it's so sad how avoidable this tragic death is. This to me is a cautionary tale, not shaming.

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

The Father was a brutally honest yet remarkably empathetic portrait of dementia, showing us how disturbingly the jigsaw puzzle of memory comes apart, and how it affects struggling caretakers. A must watch in general, but solid teaching tool for the topic of dementia. @atobiamd

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

@PShapMD Sick if fabricated and used as propaganda (the evidence for vaccination speaks for itself and doesn't need dramatization), but your colleagues have countless of stories like this. Trust your colleagues regardless of what strangers' pages say.

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

To further add to this discussion - I've heard the term "malignant narcissism" apply to narcissists who act in harmful ways. This is the term I've seen apply to this phenomenon of people with NPD whose behavioral patterns overlap with ASPD. @atobiamd @AmyS_MD

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

I hesitate to go into detail lest I drop any spoilers, but suffice it to say that #Undoing is a good study of Cluster B personality disorder pathology. Thanks to many of my friends for sharing their thoughts on it with me! @atobiamd @AmyS_MD

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

@atobiamd, what was the mnemonic for borderline personality? Fatal Attraction's Alex meets criteria in the first 40 minutes: intense fear of abandonment, unstable intense relationship, impulsivity, mood swings, self-injurious behavior, intense anger.

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

@atobiamd "*I* shot the clerk?!"
"Let the record show that the defendant just admitted to shooting the clerk".

[Ariel Tabachnik, MD @ArielTabachnik]

@PShapMD I agree. I think we should strive to answer questions of those genuinely concerned, which a friend of mine does beautifully.

But I think that humor is an acceptable response to outright conspiracy theories. As you know, we should never challenge delusions - they're fixed.