Posted by MaxTex on May 8, 2003, at 0:02:20
In reply to Re: Peter Breggin is a legend!...on some points, posted by stjames on May 7, 2003, at 0:19:15
I met Peter Breggin over ten years ago, sometime after reading his fine book The Psychology of Freedom. I generally think his pro-responsibility approach is excellent and productive. However, I do think he goes way too far in attacking the use of psychoactives and the role of professional psychotherapists and psychiatrists.
Will power and thinking can help you, but they will not cure all ills. I'm a smart guy (if I do say so myself!) and have studied all kinds of psychology and self-help methods for decades, yet STILL cannot fully change some things about myself without medication. True, current methods of psychopharmacological intervention are crude (though much better than 2 or 3 decades ago).
-- We still administer psychoactive substances in crude pill form
-- We can't accurately or feasibily measure individual levels of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides to tailor treatments to the individual
-- We don't yet have a good understanding of gene expression in neurons
-- Our psychiatric techniques are still partly reliant on guesswork and very weakly-scientific methods.
This won't always be the case. (You'll find some fascinating reading at hedweb.org and http://www.biopsychiatry.com/)
For now, listen to Breggin (and Thomas Szasz) but don't throw out drugs. They are potent tools for improvement. So is psychiatry. BOTH also require taking personal responsibility since doctors don't know everything (yes, really!). For instance, my doctor is going to get a sharply worded letter regarding his complete lack of advice on withdrawing from Effexor, yet I'm kicking myself for not researching it first.
Cheers,
MaxTex
poster:MaxTex
thread:224350
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030505/msgs/225023.html