Though I’ve always thought psychiatry is to medicine what horoscopes are to astrophysics…
In his scathing new critique, psychiatrist Dr. Joel Paris of McGill University argues the affliction now called dissociative identity disorder (DID) gained popularity among some psychiatrists in the 1980s and 1990s largely because of popular books and movies, the most famous of which — Sybil — he said has been exposed as a fraud.
Linked to repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse and even of satanic ritual, the disorder is given little credence by the specialty today, Dr. Paris wrote. DID should never have been included in the upcoming fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), concludes his journal paper.
“………saying it unfairly disparages a field that enjoys mainstream acceptance.”
That about sums it up.
Along with every other problem we face in liberalized western society.
Many parallels can be drawn between climate sciences and the mental health fields also.
Mental health is the most difficult field of medicine to practice – the symptoms, treatments, and results are almost entirely subjective.
And it doesn’t help that the field is publicly largely a taboo topic.
I would note that the only noble prize for medicine ever recinded was for one given to the inventors of the frontal lobotomy.
The extremely loud silence from the scientific community on the overwhelming malfeasance being shown by their brethren is illuminating.
Stories like this and many others, including the ongoing worldwide fraud in “climate science” is taking a respected profession and trashing it in the public’s eye.
A once highly respected sector of our economy is allowing itself to be sullied to the point they are now lumped in with used car salesmen and journalists.
My apologies to used car salesmen.
Fashionability is quite common in science. The trouble is, when something once fashionable becomes unfashionable one really does not know which is the correct answer.
The problem is that our species does not act mechanically. Nor does it act due to innate impulses.
We, almost alone of all species, have the ability to think and reason about our actions. And, emotions play a large role in our decision making process. These two factors, the ability to reason and the ability to feel the results of our actions has enabled man to develop an intricate social organization and prosperity and technological advances. And to devastate and harm.
BUT since these two actions of reason and emotion are not simple or mechanical, it is difficult to understand how they operate.
We also have to acknowledge that because of the complexity of their nature, things ‘can go wrong’. We can get a pathological narcissist, a sociopath, as president of the US. We can get people trapped in anxieties and fears, that are created primarily by those same reasoning and emotional actions. We can get schizoid, paranoic and other problems.
Therefore, it is a legitimate field of research and practice. The problem is that the human mind and emotions are so complex in their activities that it is extremely difficult to not merely understand how they operate but also how to alleviate problems.
There is a slow but inexorable trend in psychiatry away from diagnoses based on behaviour and symptoms (which is problematic, as wildly different problems can manifest in very similar ways to an outside observer) and towards diagnoses based on etiology and measurable differences in brain structure and chemistry. On the upside, this means many disorders are being properly classified (or rejected) for the first time ever; on the down side, we’re also discovering that some types of disorders, especially ones related to untreated childhood trauma, are incurable since they stem from permanent changes in brain structure. The best that can be done is teach the patient to cope with the symptoms and the maladaptive thought processes.
Everything you wanted to know about psychiatry, like most other things, just follow the money.
http://www.forbiddenknowledgetv.com/videos/neuroscience/the-marketing-of-madness-2009full-documentary.html
Well worth the watch.
Any mother who is paying attention knows that past experiences affect the behavior of their children. Any adult knows that young people can be manipulated.
Those that work with children who have autism or FASD symptoms knows that psychology plays an important role in helping these children and deciphering what triggers certain behaviors and formulate care plans to respond appropriately.
As with any discipline there exists a certain amount of quackery- including the sciences. That doesn’t mean we should throw out the baby with the bath water.
The problem isn’t so much psychology or psychiatry as it is the normalization and acceptance of behaviors that could be helped and have been helped in the past.
Yeah well, back in the day, I was “trained” to deal with interogation “techniques”. One of the rules was that “everybody breaks”….correction: almost everybody breaks…
The blind acceptance of the former is IMHO political. It goes along with the foolish notion of being able to reform/rehabilitate criminals….or dangerous ideologies….
A few years past, the judiciary discovered that many individuals had been unjustly prosecuted as a result of “expert” testimony and “recovered memories”….The reason this was so difficult is that recants by “victims” was dismissed by the very experts who had conditioned the “victims” to believe the “memories” the experts had implanted.
At one point, it was difficult to encvounter one female who had not been exploited/abuse by a male relative….a statistical impossiblity. It amounted to a fad…
Mass hysteria is a very real thing….history abounds with every thing from witch hunts to National Socialism…Trudeaumania…Obama-mania…Islam…
“Though I’ve always thought psychiatry is to medicine what horoscopes are to astrophysics…”
Agreed,though astrologers do a lot less harm than psychiatrists,who seem to have an escape clause “syndrome” or “disorder” for every violent criminal ever brought to trial.
Way too often,their psychobabble results in a dangerous offender walking the streets again soon after the crime.
One of my very favourite psychiatric cases involved a gentleman in the Surrey area of B.C. a few years back. The fellow and his wife were having difficulties, and her parents had “meddled” in his opinion. He drove 30 or so kilometers to the parents house and murdered them both.
His lawyer hired a psychiatrist who claimed the man was “in a dissociative state at the time” and therefore not criminally responsible.
The murderer was found “not guilty”.
Science? More like a black art. Scientific theory can be proven, psychiatry can not.
Every trial features opposing shrinks,one for the Crown,one for the defence,both have similar credentials and status in their field,yet they will both state under oath, a totally opposing diagnosis of the defendant.
Psychiatry has extreme limitations which should be evident to any rational person,but too often the word of a psychiatrist is accepted as gospel.
As “Lori” said, it has it’s benefits, but there IS a lot of quackery in the filed.
I think that the evidence is pretty clear that the DSM is largely a political document and has been for years.
were is the Phantom on this one:-)))
in my personal experience, |I have concluded that many “symptoms” of psychiatric problems are used in a manipulative manner, once the manipulative effect no longer works, the manipulator will stop the attempt to manipulate, or start to focus on their next target.
and the term “quack doctor” certainly applies to many psychiatrists
“I’ve always thought psychiatry is to medicine what horoscopes are to astrophysics…”
That reminds me of the Frasier episode where Niles cunningly agrees to let his father move in with him so that live-in physical therapist Daphne will come with. The plan backfires horribly when Daphne explains that if Martin is able to negotiate all those stairs then he doesn’t really need her anymore. Doing her best to be kind an put it in terms Niles can understand, she explains earnestly that what she does isn’t like psychiatry (Niles and his brother are shrinks); it actually matters that her patiens make progress.
SUPPORT MENTAL HEALTH……………..
…………………or I’ll kill you.