Psychiatry, anti-psychiatry and mental disease: Does psychiatry suck?
I found this link in Providentia
A Shocking Discovery (Part One)
It speaks about the discovery of the electroshock by the psychiatrists in the 1930s. As it seems, this is a series of articles discussing this issue. I felt compeled to offer my personal viewpoint concerning a few facts about psychiatry.
The above link may appear a little shocking to some people (pun intended). It describes psychiatrists killing dogs with electroshock in order to find a miracle electroshock cure and later testing this method on a human being with absolutely no proof or evidence that this would work. These practices don’t look scientific, nor do they look supportive to the patients. Obviously something stinks here.
Something stinks here bro
Yet, to those who have studied the history of psychiatry, this story doesn’t seem so strange.
We’ve all heard of lobotomy. It ain’t pretty and it ain’t good. And it failed to treat anything.
For those who don’t know, a lobotomy consists of plucking a thing into the forehead (frontal lobe) and cutting synapses and destroying brain regions (which probably they knew shit about what these regions were supposed to do) thus turning the patient into a rehabilitated living zombie.
Now, we have psychiatrists giving away drugs like they’re candies, without even knowing possible side-effects. Prozac was accused of causing teens to commit suicide and ritalin has been accused of causing heart problems and stunt growth.
The latest psychiatric achievement
Reading all this, one wonders why the psychiatrists would put themselves in so much trouble. To cure mental illness of course! But what the hell is really mental illness?
Could melancholy be considered a mental disease? Am I sick because I feel like shit all the time?
Can believing in strange things be considered a mental disease? Then why aren’t all the christians who believe in the raising of the dead, demons and people who walk on water considered schizophrenic?
Is a hypermobile child mentally sick? Why is it so strange for a child to be hypermobile? And why we give ritalin to him? And let’s say that being hypermobile is bad and we should administer ritalin to calm him down. But, why we would want to do that? To be more attentive at the class at school? Where he is going to learn what? About guys who walk on water? (see christians above).
The thing with mental illness is that it is not a disease. It’s a social label. Thomas Szasz once wrote that:
If you talk to God, you are praying;
If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia.
Which actually means, if god talks to you, you’re screwed.
You’re screwed darlin’
Thomas Szasz was one of the leading figures of the antipsychiatric movement.
Antipsychiatry considers psychiatry simply as a means of repression of whatever is considered "socially deviant". Psychiatry has in its roots biology, thus eliminating social problems as a cause of psychological problems (for example depression induced by unenmployment) and has authority over patients considered mentally ill, like, for example, the right to involuntary hospitalization.
Psychiatry also, belongs to system which includes universities, workplaces and drug companies that is a large part of the economy and benefits over people that are unable to work (these are the "mentally sick").
So it is very profitable. On the other hand, real treatment for these people means plain cost without any real benefit.
Anti-psychiatrists on the other hand advocates the use of humane treatments, which do not include chemical compounds or coercion.
Psychiatry is BIG business
From the beginning of this article the discussion has been focused mostly on social subjects which proves for sure on point: psychiatry has a lot of social implications. Whether mental illness is a social construct or not is a large debate, but surely psychiatry does not claim what psychiatrists claim it to be: plain medicine.
No guys, I’m sorry. Psychiatry has been proven again and again hopeless in trying to incorporate the biomedical model to mental disease. That is, the labeling of different diseases with certain symptoms and cures. The failure to find any biological treatments back in the first years of psychiatry gave rise to clinical psychology. The repeated use of force and "cures" with all side-effects gave rise to movements that rose to speak against it.
Of course, this doesn’t seem that psychological treatments work. Neither does this mean that biological treatments don’t. I’ve heard people telling me that a prozac a day changed their lives. There have been cases of psychologists sexually abusing their patients. And there are people who find it easier to take drugs than to change their environment (and many times they’re right).
But this doesn’t change the fact that psychiatry has commited crimes against humanity. Nor does it change the fact that mental illness, drugs and social stigma are issues that the average person, brainwashed by the media, has never heard of. Instead, he has a very clear view of what Holywood believes of mental health patients.
A typical holywood patient
Of course, there is always the other side. And when I’m talking of the other side, I don’t mean fanatical psychiatry fondamendalists. Take a look at this video posted on TED
Sherwin Nuland: My history of electroshock therapy
Link: www.youtube.com
This man describes how ECT (electroshock therapy) saved him from serious depression. Depression so serious, that no other cure could be proven helpful. Of course, later in the video he admits to the various problems he had in his life, which obviously made the problem even graver. However, as we said just before, not all people can change their lives, so maybe Sherwin Nuland was right. This therapy maybe indeed saved his life.
Of course, we wan’t stop there and we’ll show the anti-shock view, too. Dr. John Breeding, Ph.D has an excellent video on YouTube testifying against ECT.
We have covered many issues on this post and none of this issues can be covered in one single article. From here we could go on to many other things. For example, what are the implications of biologism in social sciences? Is it wrong or right? What are the implications of chemical in our body and considering it completely normal? Now we don’t have only psychiatric drugs, but we also have nootropics that we take willingly in an effort to become smarter.
Furthermore, we did not discuss completely the history of the various movements mentioned above.
But all these can be discussed in future articles. For now, just treat this article as food for thought and reflection on what psychiatry constitutes and what its opponents propose. Maybe you’ll come up with your own criticism and ideas.
Further Reading:
It’s Not Supposed To Work This Way
FDA Gives Thumbs Up To Kiddie Bipolar: Is KOL Syndrome Next?
New social networking for the ill dubbed “Myspace for the afflicted”
The APA and Drug Money: We’re on it senator!
The Pseudoscience of Anti-Psychiatry in PLOS Medicine
September 21st, 2008 at 9:53 am
OK, let’s cut this to the quick.
The problem with psychiatry is that it issues a *subjective* diaganosis, with no method of discerning a false positive. Then goes on to prescribe “cures” that may or may not be worse than the problem, while at the same time stigmatizing the “diagnosed” individual.
Of course in the 70’s psychiatry was dying… then the APA got in bed with the drug companies and cute things like Thorazine and Prozac… and voila… when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Take this example. Someone doesn’t want to touch a public bathroom door handle. OCD or is the individual just correct that public bathroom door handles are filthy?
Another example…
Shrink 1: “Does it take so much time it interferes with your life”?
Poor Patient 1: “Well yes I have to work and can’t keep up with all the washing of my hands I feel is needed based on the facts”.
Shrink 1: “You have OCD, we have some SSRI and response therapy for that”
(I.E. we can train you to be a good worker bee and get your ass back to work.)
Shrink 2: “Does it take so much time it interferes with your life”?
Poor Patient 2: “Well, no I don’t have to work. I just want my stuff clean and it takes a lot of time. It’s driving me nuts that people don’t respect my things.”.
Shrink 2: “You should discuss these issues with those around you.”
In short the criteria, “Interferes with you functionality” depends on who you are and what you life is like, as opposed to being about finding a broken part in the patient.
There oughta be a law against this sort of diagnosis method and stigma attachement.
September 21st, 2008 at 11:04 am
I think you’ve hit on some interesting points there! That’s a good comment!
May 6th, 2009 at 7:18 am
Celexa is an antidepressant that has been implemented for years…but neither the company that makes it, or anyone else, knows how it works. Sound like anything mentioned above?
May 6th, 2009 at 7:22 am
Also, the moment you say you can’t go to work, you get a diagnosis faster than a burger at McD’s.
May 13th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
The drug companies are turing us into zombies. BRAINSSSS…
June 11th, 2009 at 7:39 am
language interferes with the truth in odd ways – for instance MURDERED spelt backwards rhymes with CEREBRUM and SYNAPSES spelt backwards rhymes with MENTALIS – other languages have similar semantic cookies.
June 24th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
I agree with you, except the crack about Christianity.
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:51 pm
yyyoooooouuuuuuuu suck!
May 6th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Here is why they are torturing everyone they can get their hands on. We are born into a world that forces its ideals onto us from the day we are born. We are shaped and molded by those around us until we have no more ability to follow our own heart but are instead slaves to popular opinion, this is other wise called the “looking glass self”. These people are morons, ignoramuses and the like who have seized control over the United States and argue back and forth with other morons and ignoramuses who see things oppositely. Now some people manage to break free from the status quo pattern of brainwashing and find many diverse experiences which cause their right brain to develop. The right brain is other wise known as the soul and it serves as a moral anchor which the morons and ignoramuses, the left brain dominates, have no access to other than that of which everyone received in their one size fits all cultural development that made them idiots in the first place. So we have a bunch of idiots who attack people who develop through diverse experiences. It is the knowledge of wisdom of what is good that is gained by the so called mentally ill, that conflicts with the common weal of the ignoramuses, that causes distress in individuals. this is obviously worsened greatly by psychiatry and psychologists labeling and stigmatizing everyone who develops their right brain. Many if not all people who have developed their right brain need to develop their left brain and in doing so they may express themselves rather than keeping their stress bottled up inside. The left brained people need diverse experiences to free their minds and open their eyes. Most of all negativity has no place in nature and it is alien to humanity so practicing virtue and learning and understanding what love means will ultimately help both the idiots and their stigmatized victims.
May 18th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
fuck psychiatrists. The majority of them are drug-whores. Modern psychiatrist merely throw pills down your throat to solve depression. Not to mention their arrogance as medical professionals. They go through med school being able to pass courses. But nothing regulates their ability to communicate with a patient. This skill cant be taught. These social retards look down upon their patients. Fucking arrogant shits.
May 28th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
This drug is often prescribed to treat attention deficit disorder. It is becoming an illicit street drug as well. Drug users looking for a high will crush Ritalin into a powder and snort it like cocaine, or inject it like heroin. It then has a much more powerful effect on the body. It causes severe headaches, anxiety, paranoia, and delusions.
Source
http://medicines5.blogspot.com/2010/05/ritalin-effect.html
July 30th, 2010 at 1:10 am
I agree with you on some points, not all. I believe that ADHD is a way overdiagnosed condition and a scapegoat for parents and teachers that just don’t want to deal with a hyperactive child, whether or not it’s in the child’s best interest. My situation is different, I have been a foster mom for years to two beautiful little boys that I love with all my heart. As the boys are getting older, they are becoming more and more symptomatic, these are symptoms of ADHD, however the probability of it being FASD with ADHD characteristics is extremely likely. Which means that any kind of ADHD medications may not be beneficial.
This is what we see from the 5 yr old boy; constant chewing on everything from toys to his hands and feet (we go through about half a pack of gum a day to partially satisfy this sensory issue), he rarely walks straight, hips moving side to side, legs going up and jerky movements, arms waving back and forth, spinning, major trouble focusing on anything without all five of his senses being continuously overstimulated. He is subject to many mood swings throughout the day, ranging in a high laughing hysterically over nothing (actually sounds like a hyena, kind of scary when you hear it), and screaming angrily. He also goes through many bouts of talking gibberish during the day, he says real words but they are so mixed up we can’t figure out what he is trying to say. He doesn’t get along well with others.
This is an unmedicated 5 year old boy. Our family doctor equated what he goes through as having a thousand mosquitos swarming around his body.
Can you imagine? Trying to listen to a story being read by the teacher as mosquitos are buzzing in your ears? Trying to sit still while eating dinner as they are landing all over you? How can I expect him to walk normally? How can I expect him to answer when I call him? My poor little boy! He is lost in is own body. His personality, the one we fell in love with, is still in there. We need to “fog” those mosquitos away.
He is not on Ritalin. He may never be on Ritalin. He is just about to start on something to help him that our doctor prescribed. If the doctor wants to do a trial of Ritalin to see if there is a positive change, I am willing to give him the medication. I don’t want him to just tolerate living in his own body, I want him to thrive.
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May 1st, 2011 at 4:21 pm
You are on the right track. Did you know that in 1783 it was decided that nothing could be done for the mentally ill so they were locked up and fed. No treatment was attempted. They recovered anyway. It’s called spontaneous remission.
Where are the cases of spontaneous remission today. Have you ever heard of a case?
May 11th, 2011 at 11:36 am
Fucking right on!!! Damn Psychs can take their own fucking fucked-up drugs and kill themselves! I’ve seen my friends lives go to hell because they were being “helped” by these bastards! Keep it up mate! We HAVE to take these assholes down before Zombie movies really won’t be an unreal idea anymore!
January 16th, 2012 at 7:57 am
Prychiatry suck. Period.