Q & A
Q: Who are the National Coalition of Concerned Mental Health Experts?
A: We are a group of mental health professionals who started coming together after a Yale ethics conference that asked the question: “Does professional responsibility include a duty to warn?” This directly addressed “the Goldwater rule”: if there is a restriction to our speech, is there ever a circumstance where we would have a positive duty to speak? Our answer was yes, since we have a duty to society and not just to our patients. We seek to alert lawmakers and the public to the dangerousness of the current presidency before an irreversible national or international crisis occurs.
Q: How did “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump” come about?
A: The conference led to the instant New York Times bestseller, “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.” The book is intended as a public service, and all royalties are going into a fund for public good. We hope to offer the best of our expertise in accessible form. The Coalition represents more than the 27 in the book: we now number in the thousands.
Q: What is our mission?
A. We are dedicated to sharing our knowledge for the purpose of furthering public health and safety. We are open to consulting with government officials who seek our expertise, regardless of party. We bring scientific information, clinical expertise, and practical experience to understanding and handling this situation, with the goal of offering solutions and hope.
Q: Are there limitations to what we do?
A: World Mental Health Coalition members do not make specific diagnoses of public figures without a full evaluation. We also do not advocate for specific legal or political outcomes but offer our professional expertise for informed decision-making.
Q: As a mental health professional, how do I join the practitioners-only forum?
A. Please fill out the contact us form with your credentials, and you will be added to our mailing list, which doubles as a forum, if you choose it to be. A small number of consultants with other expertise are also invited to apply if you feel that your background could be of help to us.