Posted by SLS on January 3, 2015, at 6:17:28
In reply to Re: psychiatry is an ougrowth of society, posted by Christ_empowered on January 2, 2015, at 13:10:48
My opinion:
The books you mention are little more than the seizing of opportunity by charlatans to make money. Although there is accuracy in some of the facts they present, they are artfully crafted into horror stories and are a source of disinformation. Mistakes have been made historically in psychiatry - just like in many other fields of medicine. I think it is a matter of intent. What is the intent of psychiatry in today's world? Individual healthcare professionals each have their goals which are often in conflict with both the field of psychiatry and the welfare of the patient. I have come across incompetency. I have come across ignorance and arrogance. However, this is far from being a systemic problem. I cannot comment on the older state hospitals, though. I have never been to one, but I understand they are horrible. One of the real problems I see is the dearth of psychiatrists in rural areas.
By the way, treating people with schizophrenia with psychotherapy and titrating their medication to the lowest effective dosage during ongoing psychotherapy is not a novel idea.
Sexual crimes perpetrated by predators upon the vulnerable is not limited to the field of psychiatry, nor even medicine in general. Do you have an opinion as to what is the rate at which this occurs in psychiatry, and how it compares to clergy?
* Out of curiosity, what are the changes that you are about to make in your life based upon what you have read in these books?
- Scott
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> I'm not the only one who's had terrible experiences w/ mental health. The anti-psychiatry movement of the 70s didn't die, it just kind of went into a deep slumber...
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> ...books such as "Mad in America" and "Anatomy of an Epidemic" and "The Myth of The Chemical Cure" are bringing back a new, more nuanced sort of anti-psychiatry/critical psychiatry movement. Docs in Vermont have come up with the crazy idea that maybe people w/ schizophrenia need to talk about their problems nad take less neuroleptic. Imagine that...
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> Anyway, some people love their docs. These people are usually at least respectable and white. I'm treated better now in part because I"m white, male, and my people are relatively affluent, at least for this area.
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> I can't cite studies, but there is data that would indicate that social class, race, gender, etc. influence diagnosis and treatment. Diagnosis, in particular, is a political decision. Non-white "crazy" people = schizophrenia. White, affluent "crazy" people=bipolar I. See what I'm saying here?
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> Public health is a lot like private practice, just...officially based on the recovery model. Lots of people on disability of some sort, probably more SSI than SSDI. Lots of high dose AP/AAP drugs. Are the patients more severely ill? I don't know. They do deal with people in jails and group homes, but...what of the outpatients?
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> Social class is a huge issue wherever you go, probably more in the US than in many European countries where, you know, poor people have rights and such.
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> In my case, I was poor, ugly, and stupid. I'm none of those things now, except poor, but I don't live in poverty because of my newly affluent parents. That makes people--including mental health people--angry.
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> Szasz wrote this book I have yet to read..."Psychiatric Slavery" . I like the concept, and I think he's right. Havnig been left dead eyed for a couple years by psychiatric torture (at a private, for profit mental hospital), I DO NOT think that shrinks are all helpful, happy people.
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> Lots of mental health people sexually exploit their patients. There are cases of straight up rape, usually male psychiatrists and female patients. In my case, my docs "made an example" out of me. My neighbors now know a little too much about my psych history. Wonder why...
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> ...could it be because I filed a medical board complaint? See what I'm saying? "Trouble makers" ALWAYS get the worst "treatment," and there doesn't seem to be any escape.
Some see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1074584
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20141123/msgs/1074751.html