TY - JOUR
T1 - Response to Looi et al. – Tilting at windmills
T2 - A giant quest
AU - McGorry, Patrick
AU - Rickwood, Debra
AU - Radovini, Alessandra
AU - Denborough, Paul
AU - Adams, Sophie
AU - Callaghan, Amelia
PY - 2020/7/1
Y1 - 2020/7/1
N2 - Australia has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redesign and invest in mental health care. Common purpose is crucial. Yet in the latest divisive instalment in ANZJP, Looi et al. (2019) characterise organisations like headspace as leviathans, which pose a threat to mental health care. They seek to draw a parallel with Captain Ahab’s obsession with the pursuit of the great whale in ‘Moby Dick’. However, a credible critique requires a clear perception of reality, and we argue that the classic novel ‘Don Quixote’ captures the extent of the authors’ failure to grasp the reality of Australian mental health care. Don Quixote famously mistook windmills for terrifying giants, launching an abortive attack which rebounded badly. His idealistic, yet ultimately shallow, intentions were discredited, rendered farcical by common reality.
AB - Australia has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redesign and invest in mental health care. Common purpose is crucial. Yet in the latest divisive instalment in ANZJP, Looi et al. (2019) characterise organisations like headspace as leviathans, which pose a threat to mental health care. They seek to draw a parallel with Captain Ahab’s obsession with the pursuit of the great whale in ‘Moby Dick’. However, a credible critique requires a clear perception of reality, and we argue that the classic novel ‘Don Quixote’ captures the extent of the authors’ failure to grasp the reality of Australian mental health care. Don Quixote famously mistook windmills for terrifying giants, launching an abortive attack which rebounded badly. His idealistic, yet ultimately shallow, intentions were discredited, rendered farcical by common reality.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086234578&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0004867420925153
DO - 10.1177/0004867420925153
M3 - Comment/debate
C2 - 32489106
AN - SCOPUS:85086234578
SN - 0004-8674
VL - 54
SP - 670
EP - 672
JO - Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
JF - Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
IS - 7
ER -