On March 22, 2023, a video was posted to the McLean Hospital YouTube page. Matthew A Robinson, PhD ran this filmed seminar. This video included multiple videos from multiple different people who have all received the same diagnosis. Matthew Robinson indicated he believed the people were all malingering, meaning he suggested that these people were intentionally faking their disorder. All of the people included in this video have received formal diagnoses elsewhere, some have had multiple diagnoses of the same disorder, and most of them have been diagnosed for multiple years. Not a single one of these people is a patient of Matthew Robinson’s, nor even of the McLean Hospital. 

When a medical professional takes a person who is not their patient and diagnoses them or otherwise (such as claiming they are malingering) it is called Armchair Diagnosing, and is included under “malpractice.” 

In addition to this blatant malpractice, Matthew Robinson and his colleagues have violated the Goldwater rule, or Section 7 of the American Psychiatric Association Principles of Medical Ethics, which states “psychiatrists have a responsibility to participate in activities contributing to the improvement of the community and the betterment of public health, but they should not give a professional opinion about public figures whom they have not examined in person, and from whom they have not obtained consent to discuss their mental health in public statements.” The Goldwater rule has been in place since 1964. The APA’s Ethics Committee affirmed and even expanded the rule beyond diagnosis to cover almost all psychiatric opinion in 2017.

The video posted by McLean Hospital also violates the American Psychology Association Section 9.01 of the Ethical Principles of Psychology and Code of Conduct, which states “psychologists provide opinions of the psychological characteristics of individuals only AFTER they have conducted an examination of the individuals adequate to support their statements or conclusions. When, despite reasonable efforts, such an examination is not practical, psychologists document the efforts they made and the result of those efforts, clarify the probable impact of their limited information on the reliability and validity of their opinions, and appropriately limit the nature and extent of their conclusions or recommendations.” 

Matthew Robinson made no effort to contact any of the individuals included in the video to speak with them or ask their consent. 

Matthew Robinson claims to be specialized in the specific diagnosis he attacked others for sharing online. Many people whom have come together and built a community for this disorder are negatively affected by Matthew Robinson’s work, especially the individuals included in the video. These individuals have been invalidated in their professional diagnoses to the point of negatively affecting their mental health. The disorder in question is diagnosed in individuals with intense and severe trauma from early childhood and could potentially lead to the targeted individuals harming themselves in some way. Many people in this community feel Matthew a Robinson is unfit to care for patients who have this disorder, as well as any other patients with trauma disorders. 

Sign this petition to have Matthew A Robinson’s license revoked!