J. Wesley Boyd - When Physician Health Programs Go Wrong

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation

Today our guest is J. Wesley Boyd, psychiatrist, professor, and the director of education at the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics. He joins us to talk about Physician Health Programs, (or PHPs) which are under-the-radar programs that most states have. They're supposed to be a place where doctors who are struggling with substance abuse or mental illness can go to recover. But Wes shares how a shocking number of doctors who do *not* have a substance use disorder are coerced into for-profit inpatient treatment that rips them away from their lives and costs them tens of thousands of dollars of their own money. And if they don’t comply with every demand, they’ll very likely lose their medical licenses. We’ll talk about the benevolent origin of PHPs, the profit motives that corrupted so many them over time, examples of folks who experienced this coercion at the expense of their mental health and career, and how no one believes people who were victims of them - which is why it’s important for people like Wes, who worked for one as a psychiatrist, to speak out. And as always, we will discuss the exceptions, because of course there are people who have been helped by them too.

Check out our great sponsors!!

Pretty Litter: Keep tabs on your cat’s health AND keep the odors down! Go to PrettyLitter.com/trustme and use code "trustme" to save 20% on your first order AND get a free cat toy!

Quince: Need high quality essentials? Go to Quince.com/trust for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns!

Trust Me is sponsored by BetterHelp! Visit BetterHelp.com/trust to get 10% off your first month!

Shopify: Run a business? Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com/trustme

BUY OUR MERCH!! bit.ly/trustmemerch

Got your own story about cults, extreme belief, or abuse of power? Leave a voicemail or text us at 347-86-TRUST (347-868-7878) OR shoot us an email at [email protected]

INSTAGRAM

@TrustMePodcast

@oohlalola

@meaganelizabeth11

TWITTER

@TrustMeCultPod

@ohlalola

@baberahamhicks

TIKTOK

@TrustMeCultPodcast