A psychiatrist who didn’t believe in mental illness (2013)
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Re: A psychiatrist who didn’t believe in mental illness (2013)
#2The quakers figured out that most people could recover from what are now called "psychotic breaks" by being put in a safe place ("asylum") and provided 4 meals a day [2].
Much of the current problems of Psychiatry stem from the split of neurology and psychiatry [0]. Over the last 60+ years investigators have found many physiological considerations for the so-called "mental" disorders. The core of the resistance against psychiatry (slandered as "antipsychiatry") are the experiences of patients whose conditions deteriorate from medications that do not address the cause of their conditions.
Stress is one of the most important factors in every psychiatric diagnosis. Malnutrition is a type of stress; emotional stress and genetic mutations [1] creates a need for more of certain nutrients.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuropsychiatry
[1] https://www.gxsciences.com/methylation-testing-s/2.htm
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_treatment#England
I appreciate Szasz's comment about the crucifixion of Ignaz Semmelweis, the Hungarian obstetrician who had the audacity to suggest that his fellow doctors should wash their hands between autopsies and childbirths:
"It taught me, at an early age, the lesson that it can be dangerous to be wrong, but, to be right, when society regards the majority’s falsehood as truth, could be fatal. This principle is especially true with respect to false truths that form an important part of an entire society’s belief system. In the past, such basic false truths were religious in nature. In the modern world, they are medical and political in nature." (emphasis added)
The enduring mistreatment of those labeled as "mentally ill" is one of the great tragedies of our time.
edit: added reference [2] edit2: extraneous words removed
Re: A psychiatrist who didn’t believe in mental illness (2013)
#3Szasz's opinions on addiction and 'the therapeutic state' were some of the most clear of any from the field of psychiatry I've heard yet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Szasz#Szasz's_main_argu...
Re: A psychiatrist who didn’t believe in mental illness (2013)
#4Szasz's opinions on addiction and 'the therapeutic state' were some of the most clear of any from the field of psychiatry I've heard yet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Szasz#Szasz's_main_argu...
A lot of this echoes Foucault. You might find his work interesting.
Re: A psychiatrist who didn’t believe in mental illness (2013)
#5The quakers figured out that most people could recover from what are now called "psychotic breaks" by being put in a safe place ("asylum") and provided 4 meals a day [2]. Much of the current problems of Psychiatry stem from the split of neurology and psychiatry [0]. Over the last 60+ years investigators have found many physiological considerations for the so-called "mental" disorders. The core of the resistance again…
Most people do not know a lot of basic but important things about stress.
- Change increases stress
- To-Do list items are also known as "stressors"
- Implementing someone else's suggested "happiness plan" in your life could easily kill you, simply because it's new to _you_ and requires dramatic change
To be "right" as per Szasz means to fit into and apply a preferred template in order to bring about that template's preferred outcome more than it means to be true. It is the difference in template that causes the fatal dynamic, not any difference in truth. More true does an individual feel, the more their acted-out template matches their own psychology, and the more they see the template benefiting others who are amenable to its way of framing things. More do they demonstrate alarming symptoms, the more their preferred, best, most trusted template is overridden both objectively and within their subjective experience.
To make all of HN go "mentally ill" simply confine its membership to Facebook fashion groups or the neighborhood butcher shop or the religious cult. The method of or reason for confinement or the place of confinement will always differ, but the result will be the same--absolutely devastating symptoms and strange diseases, etc. Just change, and unknowingly set at an unsustainable pace right from the start.
The illness model has its leverage points in e.g. its natural provision for quick social exits, but other models also contribute much to our self care and other-care.
Re: A psychiatrist who didn’t believe in mental illness (2013)
#6Of course the #hustle obsessed hacker news crowd would love this title. "Mental illness is fake! Mentally different people are just whiny and inferior, not a legitimate illness. Depressed people need to just stop it."
What a load of crap.
This article does a poor job of laying out Szasz's actual beliefs. Szasz sounds like a right-wing wonk and little else.
He has since been proven completely wrong in the 50 years since publication: There is a biological component to mental illness.
It focuses on his persecution complex as a right-wing libertarian in a laregly liberal field.
They bring up the completly irrelevant Semmelweis to attach an air of legitimately to his crackpot beliefs. They do it again with Arendt.
Re: A psychiatrist who didn’t believe in mental illness (2013)
#7The quakers figured out that most people could recover from what are now called "psychotic breaks" by being put in a safe place ("asylum") and provided 4 meals a day [2]. Much of the current problems of Psychiatry stem from the split of neurology and psychiatry [0]. Over the last 60+ years investigators have found many physiological considerations for the so-called "mental" disorders. The core of the resistance again…
Most people do not know a lot of basic but important things about stress. - Change increases stress - To-Do list items are also known as "stressors" - Implementing someone else's suggested "happiness plan" in your life could easily kill you, simply because it's new to _you_ and requires dramatic change To be "right" as per Szasz means to fit into and apply a preferred template in order to bring about that template's…
- Stay in an abusive (doesn't even have to look too bad) relationship and try to live the other's "happiness plan"
Re: A psychiatrist who didn’t believe in mental illness (2013)
#8Of course the #hustle obsessed hacker news crowd would love this title. "Mental illness is fake! Mentally different people are just whiny and inferior, not a legitimate illness. Depressed people need to just stop it." What a load of crap. This article does a poor job of laying out Szasz's actual beliefs. Szasz sounds like a right-wing wonk and little else. He has since been proven completely wrong in the 50 years sin…
Can you please stop posting rants to HN? They're not what this site is for, and you've done it a lot, unfortunately. Your non-rant comments are fine.
HN is for intellectual curiosity—see https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
Re: A psychiatrist who didn’t believe in mental illness (2013)
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most people do not know a lot of basic but important things about stress. - Change increases stress - To-Do list items are also known as "stressors" - Implementing someone else's suggested "happiness plan" in your life could easily kill you, simply because it's new to _you_ and requires dramatic change To be "right" as per Szasz means to fit into and apply a preferred template in order to bring about that template's…
- Stay in an abusive (doesn't even have to look too bad) relationship and try to live the other's "happiness plan"
Good example! And a deep topic...
Re: A psychiatrist who didn’t believe in mental illness (2013)
#10Of course the #hustle obsessed hacker news crowd would love this title. "Mental illness is fake! Mentally different people are just whiny and inferior, not a legitimate illness. Depressed people need to just stop it." What a load of crap. This article does a poor job of laying out Szasz's actual beliefs. Szasz sounds like a right-wing wonk and little else. He has since been proven completely wrong in the 50 years sin…
Can you please stop posting rants to HN? They're not what this site is for, and you've done it a lot, unfortunately. Your non-rant comments are fine. HN is for intellectual curiosity—see https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html .
Wooo wooo Wooo wooo!
dang, the fun police, has arrived!