Psychology/Psychiatry is all a scam

I feel that understanding the mind as well as the brain is a crucial part to being a successful professional in psychology or neuroscience. I want to become a clinical neuropsychologist because it deals with exactly that. As far as psychology being a scam, I would have to disagree. Yes, there are psychologists and psychiatrists who are bad people and abuse their power. But there are many people who are corrupt in the world. Its a human tendency to focus on the badness of our lives. Its actually a biological defense mechanism. By being aware of the evil we can be prepared for it. If you ever just idly think for awhile you'll often find yourself thinking of somewhat troubling thoughts. This your brains way of trying to prepare you against any future anxiety. So basically you can argue anything is corrupt or a scam but there are always good people. Hopefully when I'm in the field I can try to alter the negative connotation that comes with psychology. Psychology is still a relatively new science so its natural that scrutiny arises.
Hope everyone has a good day, thanks for reading.

Hey,

...and thank you for making your post, Psychology 76. I think it's good to get the perspective on this from the other side of the argument. You appeared to handle the criticism very well, I must add. I'm sure that being aware that some people view psychology so negatively will only make you a better professional whenever you do take up practice.

I know that people automatically look upon the negative aspects of life in a natural bid to better themselves. That's not to say that we cannot train ourselves to look upon all of our positives too. The problem is, however, that some people get so wound-up in negativity that they simply don't see any of the positives in themselves that others do.

Kevin

Well thank you for the kind words Chucky/Kevin. I do try to take the most objective view I can. I really did appreciate the point you made though. People with overflowing negative thoughts do tend to see negative in most things. Also, people will look negatively at things to put themselves in a better light like you said. Psychology is not exempt from this but hopefully with time it will lessen. I think psychology has potential to better humanity more than any other science if applied correctly.

Hey again,

Is it possible to apply psychology correctly though, when we don't fully understand the brain? I guess it is possible, but it will involve a lot of dedicated professionals in the area that have studied a lot of patient behaviours. They'll also need to not always assume that they know a patient better than the patient knows him- or her-self.

Can I ask a question though: What light does it put on psychology as a whole when people go to different professionals and get diagnosed differently? In some cases, I have even heard of one psychologist diagnosing one thing and another flat-out rejecting the diagnosis of the first (and then subsequently diagnosing something else).

hehe, I'm not trying to bring you down or anything. I'm genuinely interested in your opinion.

Take care,
Kevin.

Very good question. And no worries about bringing me down haha, I'm always up for a convo about psychology even if its about something like this.

For the first part of your question I have this to say. Psychology is a new science. When medicine was 100 years, old doctors claimed that diseases were due to evil spirits. Obviously the lack of technology and such played a large role in that but what I'm getting at is that psychology will evolve and become more scientific. Right now it is pretty theoretical. There are some flaws about psychology though, as with anything. Its just much easier to exploit them since psychologists can have a negative connotation. Psychology is getting better though. Much better. I have read a lot of about early psychology and I compare it to today's research and it is simply awesome to admire such progress. Early on psychology was pretty much all theories. A person would get a PhD or MD and more or less create notions of what they think psychology is without testing it. Throughout the 1900s psychology did start to become more objective and scientific. It is still advancing and still has flaws but I believe that psychology will continue to progress and become more scientific.

This leads to the second part of your question. Naturally, if a science is too theoretical different scientists will disagree because there is no firm standard. So, in diagnosing a client or patient, psychologists can formulate very different answers. Though doctors sometimes do this as well but it is much less common. I was reading a book by the great psychologist Albert Ellis. He was saying that when he first started doing psychotherapy, he used the psychoanalytic approach. Freud made this very popular and most psychologists used this in the first half of the 1900s. However, Dr. Ellis wrote how he realized that psychoanalysis was not very successful at all. Sometimes he would do everything right in therapy and the client would still be not cured and sometimes he would do many things wrong according the proper psychoanalysis and the client would be helped. Thus, eventually Dr. Ellis created a new type of therapy known as cognitive behavioral therapy which is today a proven therapy for treating phobias and eating disorders. This example shows that psychology is evolving and better more consistent therapies will arise allowing psychology to advance into a greater science overall.

Hope this helps.

K222 wrote:a scam, people need to get over things themselves and come to terms with things themselves

All these doctors are just in it for the money

I tried to find a shrink, but none of them would listen to me because I didnt have the $100 an hour to give them

It is all a scam, people who have the money or have insurance just go to their shrink to let them listen to them babble about what is wrong with them

The Psychiatric industry creates all these illnesses because they are very profitable, the drug industry takes in billions and billions of dollars

It is all a scam, people need to come to terms with things themseves and they need to find peace with themselves, the biggest travesty of all is these psychologists are able to milk the ######6 insurance companies out of $100 an hour and they are able to sleep at nite that way, these psychologists are the biggest ######6 criminals out there, if they really cared about people they would let the market actually work and if people were only able to afford $5-$10 or even $20 a session that would work, but they need $100 an hour? Are they serious?

These doctors just want to fill their appointment book so they can enjoy the finer things in life, most doctors now are like any other capitalist businessmen and are more conerned with making a profit then actually helping people

Dog eat dog world, it is about making a profit, if you have any dignity you will not survive in this world, me I am not going to survive, I can either die a wimp or actually do something about it

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Edited by moderator - Please don't use bad language in your messages. You can achieve just as much emphasis without such expletives.

You can't lump psychology and psychiatry in the same category. Not all psychologists work for $100.00 per hour, some earn more and some much less. Also, I would say that most in the field of psychology are in direct opposition to medicating people since most provinces or states do not allow them to even prescribe meds.

You can't lump psychology and psychiatry in the same category. Not all psychologists work for $100.00 per hour, some earn more and some much less. Also, I would say that most in the field of psychology are in direct opposition to medicating people since most provinces or states do not allow them to even prescribe meds.

Good point meg!

I am against medication unless in very severe cases. Two states in the U.S. allow psychologists with special training to prescribe medicine and I hope that raises. Not so much because I want to someday prescribe medicine but to UNsubscribe medicine which I feel many psychologists will do.

Hey Psychology 76,

Your answer was very good and I read it with great interest. I also agree with all that you said in it. Psychology really is a new area. I guess that we - the patients - just see so much progress in the physical [medical] sciences that we place too much demands on being cured of our mental illnesses. You get me?

I am against medication unless in very severe cases.

That's good to hear because I think that medication is prescribed too easily and rapidly, and not just by psychiatrists. GP's do it too and the worst case is the overuse of antibiotics.

Kevin.

I'm glad you enjoyed my post. But I definitely do understand how people can feel that way about psychology. Psychology will grow and advance in time and I feel someday it will be as reliable as other sciences.

As for medication, that is something I hope to change in the field one day. What most psychedelic drugs do is either stimulate more of a certain neurotransmitter or reduce a certain neurotransmitter. This can be helpful in severe cases but I just think that for many mental issues, it is just too much focused on reductionism.

On a totally unrelated note, I was just wondering how does one become a moderator? I am interested in the position if available.

Hi,

There are never 'positions' available, as such. Moderators are generally people who are very active on the forum and show that they can genuinely offer help to people. I'll PM you.

Kevin.