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Re: shrinks self-destruction...

Posted by mrtook on June 19, 2010, at 9:54:58 [reposted on June 20, 2010, at 2:48:19 | original URL]

In reply to shrinks+self-destruction..., posted by Christ_empowered on June 18, 2010, at 21:51:52

> Yeah, I've heard that they based the claim that shrinks have unusually high substance abuse, divorce, and suicide rates on some older data. From what I heard (granted, I read this online AND this was a while ago, so who knows if this is true...) the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has statisticians who have been keep track of all this BUT...not surprisingly...they've been refusing to release their numbers. Apparently, shrinks can justify forcing the "mentally ill" to undergo treatment by saying "its for their own good," and use selected studies to prove their point, but they don't like it when statistical analysis is applied to their own behavior. Hmmm...
>
> To be fair, from what I understand, people in the higher levels of the medical professions (doctors, pharmacists, etc.) tend to have higher-than-average suicide rates. This is in part b/c they are still predominantly white (many minority groups have lower suicide rates b/c of greater community involvement and more supportive family structures), they make more money than the average person (both extreme poverty AND wealth drive up suicide rates; I believe both involve a reduced "stake in conformity" and a bit of "anomie"), there's less religious involvement (religious affiliation, especially the kind that gets you involved with other people on a regular basis, drives down suicide rates), and they have access to the drugs.
> Within the medical profession, I've heard that pharmacists may have a higher suicide rate b/c they're kind of on the bottom of the totem poll (they get paid well, but there's less prestige and lots of stress), and they're surrounded by drugs everyday. Shrinks, I imagine, would similarly suffer from being involved in a less-than-respected field of medicine; they earn less than other specialties (on average, I think about the same as a general practice physician) and they aren't given the same prestige as, say, a surgeon or a neurologist. Also, you can't ignore the fact that they are indoctrinated into a belief system that reduces emotions to chemicals and brain structure (I say "belief system" b/c adherence to this dogma varies within psychiatry and the proof for this belief system is still lacking).
> Also, you have to think: what effect does drugging people up all day have on a person's psyche? And: what kind of a person goes into psychiatry in the first place? I've heard from other docs that psychiatrists often don't do as well in med school as, say, dermatologists, and they're often trained in foreign schools either a) b/c they are foreign (this is especially common in public health services) or b) they found foreign schools appealing b/c...umm..they could actually get in.
> And..think: what kind of person would get an MD to practice a controversial branch of medicine that involves coercing or forcing people to take drugs that are known to be hazardous and are only somewhat effective? What kind of a doctor pursues a branch of medicine that involves destroying the very organ (the brain) they are supposed to working on?
>
> Who know...sometimes I think the crappy lives some shrinks seem to have may be due to Karma or divine retribution.
>
>

I get that you don't like shrinks.

What I don't get is why you followed up a well reasoned analysis of higher suicide rates in certain classes and professions with a diatribe against shrinks. Consider what you are saying about our host Dr. Bob? Do you wish him ill?

I would imagine the real reason psyciatry is not a first choice for graduating med students has more to do with dealing with the patients. (the 3 am pages, the mistrust, and having me as a patient.) as well as being relatively under payed.


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poster:mrtook thread:951547
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20100528/msgs/951560.html