Joe Pierre, MD
@psychunseen.bsky.social
Academic psychiatrist at UCSF and author of the Psych Unseen blog at Psychology Today and the book False: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things That Aren't True (Oxford University Press, 2025) drjoepierre.com
Pinned
Joe Pierre, MD
@psychunseen.bsky.social
· May 26
Ever wonder "how can someone believe THAT?"
My book "FALSE: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things That Aren't True" (Oxford University Press, 2025) explains why.
Please give it a read, spread the word, and write a review! 🙏
drjoepierre.com/index.php/fa...
My book "FALSE: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things That Aren't True" (Oxford University Press, 2025) explains why.
Please give it a read, spread the word, and write a review! 🙏
drjoepierre.com/index.php/fa...
The jocks may have been the kings of high school, but he came to understand that it was a fleeting achievement.
"I remember as a kid thinking, it doesn't matter if you're good at this... you become suspicious of how everything works--power structures; whatever the caste systems are..."
"I remember as a kid thinking, it doesn't matter if you're good at this... you become suspicious of how everything works--power structures; whatever the caste systems are..."
November 15, 2025 at 5:23 PM
The jocks may have been the kings of high school, but he came to understand that it was a fleeting achievement.
"I remember as a kid thinking, it doesn't matter if you're good at this... you become suspicious of how everything works--power structures; whatever the caste systems are..."
"I remember as a kid thinking, it doesn't matter if you're good at this... you become suspicious of how everything works--power structures; whatever the caste systems are..."
Reposted by Joe Pierre, MD
When did political division stop being about policy disagreements and become about tribal warfare?
When the goals shift from coexistence to defeat, false beliefs become weapons and truth becomes whatever serves you.
Tune in: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/critically-speaking/id1463016517
When the goals shift from coexistence to defeat, false beliefs become weapons and truth becomes whatever serves you.
Tune in: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/critically-speaking/id1463016517
November 13, 2025 at 3:59 PM
When did political division stop being about policy disagreements and become about tribal warfare?
When the goals shift from coexistence to defeat, false beliefs become weapons and truth becomes whatever serves you.
Tune in: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/critically-speaking/id1463016517
When the goals shift from coexistence to defeat, false beliefs become weapons and truth becomes whatever serves you.
Tune in: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/critically-speaking/id1463016517
Dictator Politics 101:
Create a mess, dig the country into a hole, walk it back, and then claim credit for being a hero.
apnews.com/article/trum...
Create a mess, dig the country into a hole, walk it back, and then claim credit for being a hero.
apnews.com/article/trum...
Trump scraps tariffs on beef, coffee and tropical fruit in a push to lower grocery store prices
President Donald Trump has announced the removal of U.S. tariffs on beef, coffee, tropical fruits and other commodities.
apnews.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:37 AM
Dictator Politics 101:
Create a mess, dig the country into a hole, walk it back, and then claim credit for being a hero.
apnews.com/article/trum...
Create a mess, dig the country into a hole, walk it back, and then claim credit for being a hero.
apnews.com/article/trum...
New book on Cults and Persuasive Leadership with a chapter by me.
Check it out.
Check it out.
November 14, 2025 at 2:49 PM
New book on Cults and Persuasive Leadership with a chapter by me.
Check it out.
Check it out.
Reposted by Joe Pierre, MD
Dr. Joe Pierre joins Critically Speaking to explore why our brains choose comfort over truth and what it costs us when we can't tell the difference between confidence and correctness.
Listen now: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/critically-speaking/id1463016517
Listen now: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/critically-speaking/id1463016517
November 11, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Waking up to find out that John Zorn's Tzadik label recordings are no longer available on Spotify
Not cool.
How am I supposed to get my daily dose of the Brian Marsella Trio?
Not cool.
How am I supposed to get my daily dose of the Brian Marsella Trio?
November 11, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Waking up to find out that John Zorn's Tzadik label recordings are no longer available on Spotify
Not cool.
How am I supposed to get my daily dose of the Brian Marsella Trio?
Not cool.
How am I supposed to get my daily dose of the Brian Marsella Trio?
Starting in a few minutes... join us for Q&A!
Zoom in to @indivisible.org today at 1:30 PM to hear me and other experts talk about medical misinformation.
November 9, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Starting in a few minutes... join us for Q&A!
Zoom in to @indivisible.org today at 1:30 PM to hear me and other experts talk about medical misinformation.
November 9, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Zoom in to @indivisible.org today at 1:30 PM to hear me and other experts talk about medical misinformation.
When AI Chatbots Encourage Violence
When chatbot sycophancy meets mental illness, the results can be deadly.
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...
When chatbot sycophancy meets mental illness, the results can be deadly.
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...
When AI Chatbots Encourage Violence
When AI chatbot sycophancy meets mental illness, the results can be deadly.
www.psychologytoday.com
November 8, 2025 at 12:45 AM
When AI Chatbots Encourage Violence
When chatbot sycophancy meets mental illness, the results can be deadly.
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...
When chatbot sycophancy meets mental illness, the results can be deadly.
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...
Should AI Chatbots Be Held Responsible for Suicide?
Ongoing lawsuits allege that chatbots have driven people to self-harm.
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...
Ongoing lawsuits allege that chatbots have driven people to self-harm.
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...
Should AI Chatbots Be Held Responsible for Suicide?
Several cases of suicide encouraged by AI chatbot use have been reported. Should chatbot makers be held liable?
www.psychologytoday.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Should AI Chatbots Be Held Responsible for Suicide?
Ongoing lawsuits allege that chatbots have driven people to self-harm.
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...
Ongoing lawsuits allege that chatbots have driven people to self-harm.
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...
Reposted by Joe Pierre, MD
“All we can do is not get pulled into the political debates and try to be fair-minded, factual, credible and authoritative,” STAT’s founder Rick Berke tells Gretel Kahn. reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/how-sci...
How science journalists worldwide are fighting White House health misinformation
“All we can do is not get pulled into the political debates and try to be fair-minded, factual, credible and authoritative,” said STAT’s founder Rick Berke.
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk
November 7, 2025 at 12:00 AM
“All we can do is not get pulled into the political debates and try to be fair-minded, factual, credible and authoritative,” STAT’s founder Rick Berke tells Gretel Kahn. reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/how-sci...
I'll be damned, it looks like most Americans don't want to live in an autocracy after all.
November 5, 2025 at 3:08 PM
I'll be damned, it looks like most Americans don't want to live in an autocracy after all.
Would love to see more backstory here…
RFK Jr implicates Tylenol as a cause of autism and then Texas decides to sue the drug company.
My guess is that the drug company then threatened to countersue RFK Jr.
newrepublic.com/post/202435/...?
RFK Jr implicates Tylenol as a cause of autism and then Texas decides to sue the drug company.
My guess is that the drug company then threatened to countersue RFK Jr.
newrepublic.com/post/202435/...?
RFK Jr. Admits He Can’t Actually Tie Tylenol to Autism
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said there isn’t “sufficient” evidence to back up his claims.
newrepublic.com
October 31, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Would love to see more backstory here…
RFK Jr implicates Tylenol as a cause of autism and then Texas decides to sue the drug company.
My guess is that the drug company then threatened to countersue RFK Jr.
newrepublic.com/post/202435/...?
RFK Jr implicates Tylenol as a cause of autism and then Texas decides to sue the drug company.
My guess is that the drug company then threatened to countersue RFK Jr.
newrepublic.com/post/202435/...?
My invited op-ed on the subject of "AI psychosis" at @bmj.com
Have a read:
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Have a read:
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Can AI chatbots validate delusional thinking?
The extent to which AI chatbots have a causal role in delusions and delusion-like beliefs remains unclear, writes Joseph M Pierre
Reports of people having delusions that were seemingly fuelled by ge...
www.bmj.com
October 24, 2025 at 1:00 AM
My invited op-ed on the subject of "AI psychosis" at @bmj.com
Have a read:
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Have a read:
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
ICE is a masked police force with minimal transparency that has been detaining American citizens with minimal due process.
In short, it is the Trump regime's gestapo.
This really needs more press coverage.
www.propublica.org/article/immi...
In short, it is the Trump regime's gestapo.
This really needs more press coverage.
www.propublica.org/article/immi...
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
www.propublica.org
October 23, 2025 at 2:39 PM
ICE is a masked police force with minimal transparency that has been detaining American citizens with minimal due process.
In short, it is the Trump regime's gestapo.
This really needs more press coverage.
www.propublica.org/article/immi...
In short, it is the Trump regime's gestapo.
This really needs more press coverage.
www.propublica.org/article/immi...
New study provides some validation of the "inner speech" model of auditory verbal hallucinations.
What say you @philcorlett.bsky.social ?
academic.oup.com/schizophreni...
What say you @philcorlett.bsky.social ?
academic.oup.com/schizophreni...
Corollary Discharge Dysfunction to Inner Speech and its Relationship to Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Patients with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders
AbstractBackground and Hypothesis. Auditory-verbal hallucinations (AVH)—the experience of hearing voices in the absence of auditory stimulation—are a cardi
academic.oup.com
October 21, 2025 at 9:56 PM
New study provides some validation of the "inner speech" model of auditory verbal hallucinations.
What say you @philcorlett.bsky.social ?
academic.oup.com/schizophreni...
What say you @philcorlett.bsky.social ?
academic.oup.com/schizophreni...
October 18, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Smart people...
47% of Americans have little or no trust in the U.S. to effectively regulate the use of AI.
www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/...
www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/...
October 15, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Smart people...
@gregsargent.bsky.social: "From the tariffs, to the government shutdown, to the ACA subsidies expiring—in every conceivable way, [MAGA is] screwing the shit out of their people.
But they're selling [them on] the notion that they’re making Democratic areas suffer."
newrepublic.com/article/2017...
But they're selling [them on] the notion that they’re making Democratic areas suffer."
newrepublic.com/article/2017...
October 14, 2025 at 6:38 PM
@gregsargent.bsky.social: "From the tariffs, to the government shutdown, to the ACA subsidies expiring—in every conceivable way, [MAGA is] screwing the shit out of their people.
But they're selling [them on] the notion that they’re making Democratic areas suffer."
newrepublic.com/article/2017...
But they're selling [them on] the notion that they’re making Democratic areas suffer."
newrepublic.com/article/2017...
House Speaker Mike Johnson is afraid of #NOKINGS:
“This Hate America rally [is] coming up October 18. The antifa crowd and the pro-Hamas crowd and the Marxists, they’re all gonna gather on the mall... It's an outrageous gathering for outrageous purposes.”
newrepublic.com/article/2017...
“This Hate America rally [is] coming up October 18. The antifa crowd and the pro-Hamas crowd and the Marxists, they’re all gonna gather on the mall... It's an outrageous gathering for outrageous purposes.”
newrepublic.com/article/2017...
October 14, 2025 at 5:41 PM
House Speaker Mike Johnson is afraid of #NOKINGS:
“This Hate America rally [is] coming up October 18. The antifa crowd and the pro-Hamas crowd and the Marxists, they’re all gonna gather on the mall... It's an outrageous gathering for outrageous purposes.”
newrepublic.com/article/2017...
“This Hate America rally [is] coming up October 18. The antifa crowd and the pro-Hamas crowd and the Marxists, they’re all gonna gather on the mall... It's an outrageous gathering for outrageous purposes.”
newrepublic.com/article/2017...
"dictatorships collapse when multitudes march and organize against it, destroying the illusion that everyone accepts tyranny."
#NOKINGS #OCT18 #NOKINGS #OCT18
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...
#NOKINGS #OCT18 #NOKINGS #OCT18
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...
Opinion | Where Trump Is Vulnerable and How to Act on It
www.nytimes.com
October 14, 2025 at 2:30 PM
"dictatorships collapse when multitudes march and organize against it, destroying the illusion that everyone accepts tyranny."
#NOKINGS #OCT18 #NOKINGS #OCT18
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...
#NOKINGS #OCT18 #NOKINGS #OCT18
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...
280 children died from flu last year.
The vast majority were unvaccinated.
www.jwatch.org/na59293/2025...
The vast majority were unvaccinated.
www.jwatch.org/na59293/2025...
October 13, 2025 at 2:38 PM
280 children died from flu last year.
The vast majority were unvaccinated.
www.jwatch.org/na59293/2025...
The vast majority were unvaccinated.
www.jwatch.org/na59293/2025...
FALSE is now available at Amazon for the insanely low price of $4.36.
No better time to pick up a copy, give it a read, and write a review.
Thank you!
www.amazon.com/False-Mistru...
No better time to pick up a copy, give it a read, and write a review.
Thank you!
www.amazon.com/False-Mistru...
October 11, 2025 at 2:29 PM
FALSE is now available at Amazon for the insanely low price of $4.36.
No better time to pick up a copy, give it a read, and write a review.
Thank you!
www.amazon.com/False-Mistru...
No better time to pick up a copy, give it a read, and write a review.
Thank you!
www.amazon.com/False-Mistru...
This is about risk:benefit and it's pretty simple.
Generally speaking, antidepressants are safe in pregnancy.
Untreated major depression often is not, both for mom and baby.
As always, individual results may vary.
Generally speaking, antidepressants are safe in pregnancy.
Untreated major depression often is not, both for mom and baby.
As always, individual results may vary.
By casting doubt on antidepressants and other well-studied drugs, our government health agencies are choosing minimal risk to a fetus over the major risk to the person carrying it
The Confusion Over Antidepressants During Pregnancy Is Harming People
By casting doubt on antidepressants and other well-studied drugs, our government health agencies are choosing minimal risk to a fetus over the major risk to the person carrying it
www.scientificamerican.com
October 9, 2025 at 2:46 PM
This is about risk:benefit and it's pretty simple.
Generally speaking, antidepressants are safe in pregnancy.
Untreated major depression often is not, both for mom and baby.
As always, individual results may vary.
Generally speaking, antidepressants are safe in pregnancy.
Untreated major depression often is not, both for mom and baby.
As always, individual results may vary.