Philippa Perry
The Reformer
Changing the system from inside it, principle turned into change.
Philippa Perry reads as The Reformer because her challenge to medicalised frameworks is lived, not academic. Her critique of diagnostic labels, the DSM's construction, and overdiagnosis brought professional cost through social media pile-ons, and she held her ground anyway. Her move to Substack after resisting editorial censure completes the pattern: when institutions demand compliance, she reforms by principled exit, insisting that frameworks meant to help people should never quietly disempower them instead.
“I don't think we are any better since we've had this whole plethora of labels. I think what people are doing are putting themselves in boxes and thinking I've got that and then that's a full stop.”
“It was sort of made up by a group of about 12 men that would do 4 disorders before lunch and maybe 3 or 4 after lunch. Things go in and out of fashion because there isn't any proper evidence.”
“I got cancelled last time. It made me think I was wrong in the way I did it. I don't think I was wrong to go — shall we not question these diagnoses a bit?”
Ways to Change the World with Krishnan Guru-Murthy: ““We’ve medicalised being human” - Dr. Philippa Perry on ADHD and overdiagnosis”
LISTEN AT THE SOURCE ↗THE RECORD IS CHECKABLE