Non-scientific problems with psychiatry

While there is plenty of evidence to point out the obvious scientific and logical errors with the practice of psychiatry (which I will not discuss in this topic), there is more to it that I find problematic.

Seeking treatment is disturbing to me, because it says something negative about citizens of the world we live in. It suggests a trend that people are increasingly unwilling to help those who are depressed (I can't deal with that, so see a shrink!). It could be said that mental illness is more common than now, or that more is now able to be corrected than in the past, but it could also be said that more things are now recognized as mental illnesses and disorders than in the past and that people are increasingly shifting the burden away to psychiatry due to the practice's growing popularity.

Another problem is the dehumanizing nature of seeking "treatment" for depression. The psychiatrist and the patient are not equals and do not relate the way a friend talks to another friend who is depressed. The best way to illustrate this is to consider the hypothetical situation of a man who suffers extreme depression that has clearly identifiable environmental causes in his life. In this hypothetical situation, the best way to help him would be with the support of family & friends willing to go an extra mile. However, because of social taboos that limit the expression of such thoughts, friends & family are unwilling, and instead demand that he sees a shrink. The shrink then sets out to identify "disorders" and suggests a medicationand is that he is told that it is a result of "chemical imbalances" and can be corrected by adjusting such with medication.

Another potentially flawed aspect of psychiatry are the underlying assumptions and goals. An anti-establishment rebel, for example, could elicit diagnoses of mental illness and thought disorders regardless of the degree of truth or distruth of the rebel, because the goal of such treatment is to enable people to operate normally (in the context of what is considered normal) within mainstream society. (Not to say that all anti-establishment folks are not actually mentally ill; some clearly are. The point is that it doesn't matter whether or not they are mentally ill, because of the actual goals of seeking psychiatric treatment conflict with this)

Any comments? Most anti-psych complaints I see revolve around the "chemical imbalance" issue, and while I agree with it, I think other potentially erroneous aspects ought to be considered.

there are many flaws in the system of psychiatry in the mental health. i suggest psychologists must have m.d. degrees and replace psychiatrists since mental illness is really psychological. medication should only be use only for short term for people who is not in control and later replace with psychotherapy. i really believe this is a good start to get the ball rolling. THE SYSTEM WE HAVE NOW NEEDS COMPLETE OVERHAUL.

guest,

thanks for your intelligent post.

here’s my take on things.

the institution of psychiatry really got going 19th century during the same period of time industrial capitalism entrenched itself as part of our culture. psychiatry's function was to control any behavior that did not adhere to the new social constructs that grew from this new ideology called capitalism.

before capitalism really took off, we would have lived much more simple lifestyles with far less stress.

in the case of severe "mental illness" like schizophrenia, world health organisation studies have found people living in poor non-developed countries rates of recovery are much higher than developed westernised countries, like the usa. in fact it is not uncommon for recovery to occur in 2 years.

i have read that people in poorer countries do not view symptoms of schizophrenia as that strange (symptoms such as the rebel you describe above). in even more remote rural tribal communities, symptoms, such as hearing voices are not only considered normal but even enviable as the person hearing voices is considered to have direct links with the supernatural world. the person hearing voices status within that community would be higher than non voice hearers.

now back to our culture, a person behaving in a way that cannot be incorporated into the capitalist system in a way where they are productive, they are now called mentally ill. then they find themselves incorporated into the capitalist system on another level, they become a mental patient and part of the billion dollar industry called psychiatry. it's hard to escape the system, you'll be exploited one way or another.

the soviet union used psychiatry to treat anyone that would not adhere to the communist system. china is guilty of using psychiatry as a political tool as well.

politics and psychiatry are very hard to separate.

in the case of depression, the medicalising of despondency is a great way to squash and exploit and movement of dissent that may arise from this mass despondency of people unhappy living under the ideology of capitalism. be it their:

financial status, constant struggling to make ends meet.

appearance.....we are made to feel inferior if we don't look like one of the models used in advertising to sell us products to make us look better.....but they never work. so we try the next product.

crap existence, lousy job, absolute no meaning in life, just work-consume and die.

whatever!

by medicalising despondency and blaming the individuals biology (chemical imbalance) and not listening to the real legitimate cause of the person’s unhappiness, the system can avoid change, the capitalist system of exploitation stays intact and nothing changes.

one day their will be a massive political-social shift (as capitalism is unsustainable) and people that are about then will look back at this period of time and they'll see the institution of psychiatry for what it is, a social control mechanism.

What's particularly interesting is the obvious bias that is held towards such other nations. Since nations like the USA exalt themselves as being the "most advanced" and "best off" they naturally will see tribal communities, and less-developed regions as lacking and backwards (and thus in "need" of modernization and economic development), and the fact that such things considered as "mental illnesses" in the context of an industrialized nation being tolerable, normal (and functional) in such "inferior" and "problematic" societies would really just reinforce their notions of it being a legitimate mental illness, since such societies as a whole are viewed as backwards and problematic.

I agree with much of your post about capitalist society; you seem to have a knowledge beyond what most people (that I run into) have of the world around you (insustainability of capitalist society seems to suggest you have an active awareness of peak oil, environmental concerns, etc). I didn't expect anyone would bring that up; this is quite pleasing to hear.

(I am the guest who started this topic, btw)

so capitalism = crazy

and cure = tribe

Hrothgar wrote:What's particularly interesting is the obvious bias that is held towards such other nations. Since nations like the USA exalt themselves as being the "most advanced" and "best off" they naturally will see tribal communities, and less-developed regions as lacking and backwards (and thus in "need" of modernization and economic development), and the fact that such things considered as "mental illnesses" in the context of an industrialized nation being tolerable, normal (and functional) in such "inferior" and "problematic" societies would really just reinforce their notions of it being a legitimate mental illness, since such societies as a whole are viewed as backwards and problematic.

i think you are spot on here. i think this is a huge mistake though. most cultural anthropologists would argue the princible of cultural relativism which is, an individual human's beliefs and activities make sense in terms of his or her own culture. cross cultural studies are impossible. the only way to understand another culture is to live in it for a long period of time, then you will understand cross cultural studies are impossible.

this however will not stop westernised psychiatry from pathologising anything it deems as problematic in other cultures. we just have to look at what they've managed to do here. they have used nothing more than ideology to turn human behavior into disease. they've managed to do this without one shred of scientific evidence that any mental illness has a medical cause.

as the americanisation of the world continues, i can only feel sorry for the socities that will be overun by american culture and what they once considered normal will be turned into mental illness.

here's an example sudy of what i'm talking about.

As Mexican Immigrants Adapt to American Society, Their Mental Illness Rates Increase Dramatically.

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan ... grant.html

Anonymous wrote:so capitalism = crazy

and cure = tribe

non-madness is just as sick as madness.

to call another way of experiecing the world crazy is a fraud.

it is clear though that a simple stress free lifestyle is the key to happiness.

Well type a personalities may disagree with that assessment

Our first guest made some good points. I just celebrated 30 years off of pills for mental illness. I found help, not so much from the medical profession, but from others who suffer from mental illness. I went to self-help groups. All of us were equal. We just came together a few times each week to help each other. We did not have absolute answers--just love and understanding. Athough, this all sounds unscientific, the approach worked for me and has worked for many others.

The only problem is that it takes time to attend meetings; and time to listen to others. Pills sometimes are quicker and simpler.

James

james

from what i've read and experienced, the best people to talk to about recovery are the people that have recovered.

the multi-billion dollar industry of psychiatry and drugs will never support or promote self help groups that actually help people recover because they make no money from it. psychiatry will still bombard us with advertising claiming we all have an illness that can only be cured by their products.

psychiatrist are not experts on the mind, the people that have recovered are.

ps: congrats on the 30 years off pills.