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Next Decoding: Dr. K (Patreon)

Published:
2024-06-03 04:37:41
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

Yes, that's right... we just did an academic so we are back to the streamer world (the season ends soon!) with Alok Kanojia AKA Dr. K.

We already know we are looking at the material in the thumbnail above (linked here). Still, we have also consumed some other material from Dr. K and dug into related controversies.

If you have material you want us to know about, good, bad, or in-between, now would be a helpful time to share.

Thanks, everyone!

Files

Comments

Erin

Excited for this one 😁

Milquetoast Ramen

I liked your commentary on Zizek’s humor, playfulness, and self-deprecation as part of his likability, and I feel like there is something to that too with the success of Dr. K here—it even inclines me sometimes to give him the benefit of the doubt that some of the more concerning behavior on the surface is just his humor—but I’m not sure exactly where the line is or should be drawn given there’s more responsibility in what he’s doing as a clinician. I will say one thing that stood out as bizarre was when he broke down crying hysterically while streaming when talking about the suicide of Reckful. Maybe that was genuine, but it seemed very out of left field and even counter to his own self-described more emotionally stoic nature that makes him suited as a psychiatrist. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NDZRLHIQUEM&pp=ygUTZHIgayBjcnlpbmcgcmVja2Z1bA%3D%3D

Mert

I recommend watching mrgirls video called “Dr. K: Reckless mrgirl is very controversial and should be taken with a giant grain of salt, but the video gives a good overview of the more egregious interviews/therapy not therapy streams.

Erin

Interesting thing I've noticed about Dr. K and Destiny - Dr K is the only person I've seen Destiny be really calm around and seems to really respect, destiny seems to be very skeptical generally so I found it interesting that he seems to not question anything Dr K says

Yoko Swagman

It’s not hard to find Dr. K spouting too confidently about alternative medicine, it’s also easy to find him having normal, relatively solid lecture-style conversations about mental health topics. But you will be missing out if you don’t see Dr. K talk to Sneako, the Andrew Tate knockoff who believes psychiatry is only for blue hard liberals. At the beginning of the talk sneako has his fake online tough guy persona in full effect, which Dr. K gracefully sidesteps somehow without being overtly combatant. Really a unique piece of content for him: https://rumble.com/v40c8ot-sneakos-full-therapy-session-with-healthygamergg.html

Sam D.

I remember he interviewed Contrapoints and 2/3 of the way through the stream she referred to being trans and he was taken aback and said he hadn't known, and so apparently he does zero research on who he is interviewing before he does if they are outside of his brosphere. Like that is one of the most fundamental facts about her as a YouTuber and how she presents her content.! That said if I were you I would look into recent posts about how he is looking to grow his company, since he is looking to capitalize on being "a community" and build out more mental health content than just the videos (apps, groups, courses, coaching etc products). He's been posting recent videos about that in the last month or so. Here's a link to a survey they just put out: https://healthygamer.typeform.com/to/i5BXV4mr?utm_campaign=social_media&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_term=PriceSensitivitySurvey&typeform-source=www.youtube.com

Alice Fielding

I joined this podcast on Patreon specifically because I've been a Dr. Mike fan since before the pandemic.

Aaron Holder

I’m listening to the episode you linked to, and I have to admit I am struggling to distinguish who owns the which voice. Dr. Mike sounds unnervingly similar to Dr K. It doesn’t help that they are both asking each other questions.

Anna J

I put this in a comment on main page but probably more appropriate here so will paste ... Dr K misrepresents/lies about clinical guidelines and evidence based treatment for common psychiatric disorders. Good example here: https://www.youtube.com/live/qbPpZCjeur8?si=1tcxN6v1fENmYE1S @  timestamp 01:11:40 but you could start a little earlier for some context. He opens with some subtle "drug companies sort of bad/misguided" stuff and then goes on to state that non stimulant therapy is equivalent to stimulants for the treatment of ADHD (unequivocally no) and also at some other point in this stream (sorry can't remember where will try to find it) that non pharmalogical interventions are equivalent to pharmalogical interventions for ADHD (also no). This is so irresponsible as ADHD, especially when it's severe, can be very impairing to both physical and mental health.  So telling someone that the gold standard treatment they are on (stimulants) might not be necessary can have real effects. He also compares stimulant use for adhd to benzodiazepine use for anxiety ie they both make you feel good.  It's an absurd comparison to draw.  Benzos are bazillion times more habit forming and deadly than stimulants, and shouldn't ever be given as first line treatment for generalised anxiety. (whereas stimulants are first line for adhd). Just more anti pharmaceutical bullshit wrapped up in a nicer package.  Like its subtle but it's there. Obviously it's great to give people with adhd non pharm tools to help them with their daily life. But you don't need to lie about how necessary their medication may be to their function to do this? He also says (paraphrasing) "people come to see me after they've seen 12 doctors who still haven't fixed their adhd issues, I tell them I don't have the answers.  I don't know more than those doctors" .. but then goes on to basically describe how he will then tailor a unique approach with them that is different and special lol Oh and conveniently has a mental health guide for sale that can apparently give people tools for their adhd.  I haven't purchased it but yeah, interesting.... Oh and I say he lies instead of he is mistaken about these guidelines because if he is a board certified psychiatrist there is no way he is not aware of the guidelines for treatment of a very common neurodevelopmental psychiatric condition. Every first year psych trainee or resident who has done a psychiatry rotation knows how to treat adhd, let alone a consultant like him. Good open access recent review article on current evidence re ADHD to show his claims are nonsense https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44192-022-00030-1

Stardustsparkle

I have ADHD and I'm a psych student, and I was interested to read Anna's perspective on Dr. K 's lecture/video here. I had previously watched about half and found it very interesting. I didn't feel strongly about his opinion on meds either way, because I'm happy to hear different opinions. I always worry about the long term effects of taking the medication, so the more conversations about the topic the better. I don't think shutting down people that are not pro medication is a good way to go. It seems like a very informative video, but I could be wrong. I'd love to know what Matt and Chris think. Also do these guys have ADHD? I wonder while I'm listening. Especially suss about Chris 😁

aneladgam_varelse

Dr K is imo pretty sus on topic of depression too. Idk if I misunderstood or what’s going on, but I really got impression from his content that depression is periodical illness lasting up to year and longer depression isn’t it. It’s more explicit in the guide, but I remember something like this from these videos too: https://youtu.be/xcEVntNv9ik?si=J_2RKOzA6T7gr4-9 <- segment “what is depression”, I like that video overall https://youtu.be/zktbKbbqGvE?si=CSEQsMjxPR8cYaum https://youtu.be/bDhqTf5eJH4?si=VoGcUfdVjDJoW0ct <- this video gives weird vibe that congruent depression is different than clinical also I haven’t watched this one but judging from timestamps wtf https://youtu.be/1s8PHo7SpNg?si=dqDyixd2VRxuawhd

aneladgam_varelse

https://youtu.be/gMBuMAtr8xk?si=en0ijXcbMyKPnOIM <- It’s interesting back and forth between “I’m the evidence based guy and there is no evidence for manifestation” and “I believe in manifestations despite lack of evidence”. Also he’s weird toward his wife again (wife non present)

alice

Just legalise stimulants so anyone who feels they benefit from them can take them and people that don’t want to don’t feel pressured. If they’re safe enough to give to a large proportion of children surely they’re safe enough for all informed adults to decide whether they want them or not

Anna J

Yeah honestly the information he peddles borders on anti psychiatry propaganda sometimes. He seems very anti-medication in general. He says medication is just useful because its "easy". It honestly reminds me of some anti vaxxers who instead of claiming that vaccines dont work at all they claim you wouldnt need a vaccination if only you had a healthy lifestyle. Like of course environmental, lifestyle etc factors matter. Of course various therapies can be helpful. But for some (many) psychiatric disorders you need medication, it isn't just that medication is the easy option. He says multiple times that he tries to steer clear of medication in general and that only 30% of patients in his practice are on any medications. This is a very odd disclosure for a psychiatrist if he has a "normal" patient casemix. Like is he only treating mild depression, mild anxiety and personality disorders? Maybe I guess. Why though? He's clever about his anti medication, pro CAM nonsense too. He weaves this stuff in between nuggets of truth and interesting descriptions of the pathogenesis of mental illnesses and genuinely helpful tips etc..it's quite manipulative.

Anna J

I looked up more material on the "not therapy but actually definitely therapy" with Reckful and I feel quite mad and almost upset about it. Like, this guy was seriously vulnerable with so many risk factors for deterioration and harm to himself. I don't think you should stream therapy with ANYONE but it's 100x worse to do it with someone as vulnerable as Reckful with a serious diagnosis like BPAD 2, former suicide attempts, completed suicide of a first degree relative, history of trauma etc. And saying it's not therapy so you can completely disregard any possible duty of care that you have - how manipulative. And did he not even consider that someone as vulnerable as Reckful likely had a diminished capacity to even consent to these sessions being streamed? Did Dr K forget everything he learned about medical ethics during residency? Just thinking of Dr K counseling this (often acutely) mentally unwell person, getting him to divulge secrets and personal details, questioning his diagnosis etc while thousands of people watch, sending purple hearts and money to Dr K like it's some random stream topic makes me feel kind of nauseous.

aneladgam_varelse

HOWEVER I think you should watch some more recent not-therapy stream and don’t judge dr K solely based on Reckful not-therapy sessions. It’s been 4 years, maybe he learnt some lessons… Idk that seems fair.

Linda Sears

What I thought was kind of strange about this interview with Dr Mike is that Dr K kept saying that Eastern medicine, like Ayurveda is more individualized and patient centered, yet he is also streaming to a large audience. If he truly believed that the best practice is to treat patients as individuals, what would be the purpose of having a large streaming method of reaching people? I’m not familiar with his stream, so I’m sure someone who is can help me with this seeming contradiction. Does he present himself more as an educator who is helping to de stigmatize mental illness for a largely young male population?

alice

I for one am in support of anyone in the mental health field offering non-pharmacological solutions to mental distress. There’s an absolutely endless amount of people promoting psychiatric drugs on the internet, it’s impossible to avoid, so anyone that wants to go down that route will have zero trouble finding material promoting it. What’s the harm in someone offering a different solution? This isn’t like vaccines where everyone needs to be on board to stop a crisis. I find it weird that to be card carrying member of the left in 2024 you now need to be completely uncritical in support of everything the pharmaceutical industry does. Those drugs come with plenty of potentially life-altering side effects that you’re not warned about before they put you on them, and they’re extremely difficult to withdraw from, so alternative interventions definitely should at least be on the table. Some of the biggest fines in history (billions) were given to the manufacturers of some of those drugs, for deliberately concealing side effects of various psychiatric drugs and for marketing them for conditions they should never have been marketed for. Everyone knows about these drugs and it is trivially easy to get prescribed them so no one need panic about someone offering something else to try beforehand. These drugs will always be there for anyone that wants them.. Anyway I think it’s important not to make blind allegiance to massive companies a partisan issue. That just makes each political wing just a different demographic to be bought and marketed to by different corporations. This is a completely different issue to vaccines and shouldn’t be conflated with it

Exai

I know a few clinicians who could've already been replaced with GPT-2. A significant portion of therapists today are barely literate, and their favorite piece of art is probably the Star Wars film series. But that's also most of their patients. Until that changes (I doubt it will), medication and manualized therapy are often the treatment options available at some fraction of the (exploding) scale needed. This shouldn't be underestimated, or taken lightly in terms of what limitations and material circumstances shape/maintain this dynamic. Dr. K is a very smart guy whose epistemics are far less naive than most people who can repeat talking points they vaguely recall from undergrad (this is grounded on "evidence" in the doctrine). I have no doubt his clinic overperformed in ways that would more than anything make many of his enemies disgusted and enraged at how well his patients were doing. That would speak to a sad state of some hegemonic therapy discourse. A hot take which seems less contentious every year. I digress. This is of course separate from how you should think about his pivot from clinical work to whatever Healthy Gamer is. The channel's probably helped more people than it's harmed by a factor of thousands to one. Maybe hundreds to one if you're big into medicalization and think he's a threat to pharma. He's also overstepped boundaries in ways that look beyond shaky, on the other hand, while trying to break new ground in answering problems in the previous paragraphs. I wonder how you do that math (if it sounds simple, you're probably wrong). The coaching side gives me pause, but would have to look into it.

Anna J

This doesn't count as source material but this comment on reddit by someone who claims to have trained as a life coach for Dr Ks business is pretty yikesy. He states amongst other things that there is a 50,000 fine if you quit early due to the costs involved in training you, that the other coaches were young and inexperienced, didn't know what a mandatory reporter was etc. Does anyone know if there is any truth to these claims at all? https://www.reddit.com/r/therapyabuse/s/ShBLMRSBou The coaching sessions are quite expensive too. It sure does make you go hmmm when you think about all the times he claims you can fix so many mental health issues with life coaching methods (as opposed to formal psychotherapy and / or meds).

Anna J

Finally, this video features a compendium of clips where Dr K goes completely mask off unhinged on the pseudo-science, promoting theories like personality and disease being related to facial features and body type etc. His content on the Dr Mike interview was extremely moderate in comparison. The narrator is slightly annoying haha but the clips speak for themselves. https://youtu.be/gsyfK2vX_o0?si=Pw4nirenGyxQZSrZ