Birdsong – I have zero intent to downplay the significant harm caused by psychiatry. However I think that the harms would not be accepted in a society that did not have certain parallel problems going on. One book that opened my eyes a lot was:
“Sickening: How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It,” by Harvard professor and physician John Abramson.
Dr. Abramson has sat in on a lot of lawsuits against big pharma by injured parties and has had access to lots of internal pharma corporate data. He shares a lot of details about how unconscionably corrupt pharma is, and the medical journals too. The situation is similar and parallel to what Bob Whitaker details in his books regarding the field of psychiatry.
American society has selfish and even sociopathic traits, with publicly traded companies and other organizations seeing no problem internalizing profits and externalizing costs to society. Curiously this seems to have accelerated in the 80s under Reagan, around the time that psychiatry seems to have taken additional turns for the worse with big pharma taking over and the APA leaning into the biomedical model of mental health.
These and other facts do not lessen anything that psychiatry has done but do add context. And the goal remains to lessen the harm.
I suspect that I may continue to be the target of your comments despite the fact that I think that you and I probably more similar and more on the same team than you may realize, despite the fact that I am a psych NP
Please run more stories on this topic! I have met so many people who have had their families destroyed by CPS that I have come to view it as a destructive force. We need to have much more effort placed on keeping families together than children ripped from competent parents because of poverty. Sometimes the poverty could even be described as broke-ness – a temporary low-money period where resources are slim. Other times a mother may be having a temporary issue, such as psychosis or substance use, and her rights are permanently and irrevocably severed by a judge in a minutes-long, not impartial hearing. Both the parents and the children, in my experience, almost always want to be reunited. And my respects to any family who chooses to take in foster children. However, that being said, healthy family dynamics in foster households seem to me (in my experience and in those with whom I have spoken) the very rare exception to the rule. Most foster family environments seem to be abusive. So in my opinion, stealing kids from a not-ideal situation and placing them into another problematic situation, but now with strangers instead of relatives. I read stories about how indigenous children were stolen from their families and cannot help but to imagine that there is a direct lineage from the agencies that did this to the agencies that currently tear children from their families. Of course there are situations where this must happen and it is clearly in the best interest of the child. But, in many cases, separation could and should have been avoided. At very least, make the separation temporary, give the parent(s) ample opportunities to be reunited with their children, and whenever in doubt, default to reunification over separation.
Lots of things to mull over in this excellent piece. To focus on just, current one, that is pretty horrible to hate on patients! Definitely not acceptable. I have seen this dynamic of disrespecting patients, and it led me to quitting my job where it was happening.
Maybe I am in the minority, but I genuinely like almost all of my patients. On the occasional time that I find myself disliking someone I see, I request that they transfer to a different provider because I don’t think that I could provide appropriate care or form a therapeutic relationship with someone that I don’t like.
If you hate your patients you should not be treating them. Is there any wonder that there are so many horror stories in psychiatry?
Birdsong – I can’t claim to be unbiased, but I don’t think that any of us can. I do agree that the idea of “mental health” can be harmful in many circumstances. However I do believe that in many circumstances it can be helpful and used constructively. I even believe that there are people who receive mental health care in our very messed-up health system (the messed-up nature of which goes well beyond mental health) who genuinely benefit from it and are not harmed. So I agree that the idea of “mental health” can be problematic, but that is sometimes and not always
Do you have anywhere that I could read more about Dianetics in a succinct way and which might lead me to support its use and/or efficacy? My exposure to it has been (almost) nothing. In general I am wary since it is structured as a money-making enterprise, although this criticism could be leveled at many things in our society
Great question. For now I am working on my own direct interactions with the people I see. Do you have any suggestion for additional things I could do to help?
Birdsong – I have zero intent to downplay the significant harm caused by psychiatry. However I think that the harms would not be accepted in a society that did not have certain parallel problems going on. One book that opened my eyes a lot was:
“Sickening: How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It,” by Harvard professor and physician John Abramson.
Dr. Abramson has sat in on a lot of lawsuits against big pharma by injured parties and has had access to lots of internal pharma corporate data. He shares a lot of details about how unconscionably corrupt pharma is, and the medical journals too. The situation is similar and parallel to what Bob Whitaker details in his books regarding the field of psychiatry.
American society has selfish and even sociopathic traits, with publicly traded companies and other organizations seeing no problem internalizing profits and externalizing costs to society. Curiously this seems to have accelerated in the 80s under Reagan, around the time that psychiatry seems to have taken additional turns for the worse with big pharma taking over and the APA leaning into the biomedical model of mental health.
These and other facts do not lessen anything that psychiatry has done but do add context. And the goal remains to lessen the harm.
I suspect that I may continue to be the target of your comments despite the fact that I think that you and I probably more similar and more on the same team than you may realize, despite the fact that I am a psych NP
Report comment
Please run more stories on this topic! I have met so many people who have had their families destroyed by CPS that I have come to view it as a destructive force. We need to have much more effort placed on keeping families together than children ripped from competent parents because of poverty. Sometimes the poverty could even be described as broke-ness – a temporary low-money period where resources are slim. Other times a mother may be having a temporary issue, such as psychosis or substance use, and her rights are permanently and irrevocably severed by a judge in a minutes-long, not impartial hearing. Both the parents and the children, in my experience, almost always want to be reunited. And my respects to any family who chooses to take in foster children. However, that being said, healthy family dynamics in foster households seem to me (in my experience and in those with whom I have spoken) the very rare exception to the rule. Most foster family environments seem to be abusive. So in my opinion, stealing kids from a not-ideal situation and placing them into another problematic situation, but now with strangers instead of relatives. I read stories about how indigenous children were stolen from their families and cannot help but to imagine that there is a direct lineage from the agencies that did this to the agencies that currently tear children from their families. Of course there are situations where this must happen and it is clearly in the best interest of the child. But, in many cases, separation could and should have been avoided. At very least, make the separation temporary, give the parent(s) ample opportunities to be reunited with their children, and whenever in doubt, default to reunification over separation.
Report comment
Lots of things to mull over in this excellent piece. To focus on just, current one, that is pretty horrible to hate on patients! Definitely not acceptable. I have seen this dynamic of disrespecting patients, and it led me to quitting my job where it was happening.
Maybe I am in the minority, but I genuinely like almost all of my patients. On the occasional time that I find myself disliking someone I see, I request that they transfer to a different provider because I don’t think that I could provide appropriate care or form a therapeutic relationship with someone that I don’t like.
If you hate your patients you should not be treating them. Is there any wonder that there are so many horror stories in psychiatry?
Report comment
Birdsong – I can’t claim to be unbiased, but I don’t think that any of us can. I do agree that the idea of “mental health” can be harmful in many circumstances. However I do believe that in many circumstances it can be helpful and used constructively. I even believe that there are people who receive mental health care in our very messed-up health system (the messed-up nature of which goes well beyond mental health) who genuinely benefit from it and are not harmed. So I agree that the idea of “mental health” can be problematic, but that is sometimes and not always
Report comment
Do you have anywhere that I could read more about Dianetics in a succinct way and which might lead me to support its use and/or efficacy? My exposure to it has been (almost) nothing. In general I am wary since it is structured as a money-making enterprise, although this criticism could be leveled at many things in our society
Report comment
Great question. For now I am working on my own direct interactions with the people I see. Do you have any suggestion for additional things I could do to help?
Report comment
This literally made me laugh out loud!
Report comment