Psychiatry in America

whiteonion

Hello you guys probably think I'm a Scientologist because I criticize psychiatry, which I don't consider to be a real science at all. In fact I think it's a fraud. Look what has happened in America, they have let psychiatrists and pharmaceutical companies run amok and over there they seem to think it's perfectly normal to drug infants. http://www.healthsentinel.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2751:psychiatric-drugging-of-infants-and-toddlers-in-the-us-part-i&catid=5:original&Itemid=24

psycjay

It is a sad state of affairs, but it is not just the US where these problems arrise.

http://www.sundayworld.com/columnists/index.php

This child should be getting Applied Behaviour Analysis, but instead is being given anti-psychotics for his challenging behaviour. In this case it it the state who are at fault for not providing the treatment he should be getting.

There are very some very trigger happy psychiatrists and GP's who prefer to dispense medication when they should use other methods.

In addition there are also many parents who want the "quick fix" of medication and will bounce from doctor to doctor until they get the diagnosis they are looking for.

This is also fueled by pharma who promote outdated "chemical imbalance" models of mental illness (See my previous thread on this), which implies that the only method of treatment is medication. Pharma also has considerable power over many research institutes which causes problems with experimental bias. As a result many side effects from medication are often downplayed (or conveniently ignored) from the published studies.

That is not to say though that the field of psychiatry is a fraud, yes it has big problems, but there are many good psychiatrists who do use medicine and therapy in a valid manner.

Whether psychiatry is a science is fuzzy, In my mind its a profession more than a scientific discipline such as psychology. Then again they do scientific research, but does that make it a science in itself?

It is a complex state of affairs with many agents involved - pharma, state, psychiatry, parents etc. Pharma are a business and should be regulated by governments, governments should ensure that children get access to the right treatment, governments should also fund independent research on treatment to avoid the internal bias. practitioners should be regulated to ensure that they are using empirically validated treatment methods. Governments and regulating bodies should ensure that there is transparency with all interventions. etc

To pin it all on psychiatry is unfair but I do understand your frustration.

whiteonion

We have many problems with psychiatry here in Europe but the problem is much worse in America where Big Pharma are allowed to make commercials for psychiatric drugs and air them on television.

psycjay

Agreed. Hopefully that won't happen here, then again I would not put it past RTE.

whiteonion

I'm pretty sure that advertising psychiatric drugs on television directly to consumers is illegal in all countries in the EU. I don't know of other countries except New Zealand and the United States where this type of advertising is legal.

psycjay

I must try and get my hands on some of those ads. Just to know what is being said. I'm sure they are crafted like fine art to make sure they don't hang themselves but get the message across.

whiteonion

How do you people who defend psychiatry defend the drugging of infants like they do in America? You seem to be surprisingly quiet when psychiatry gets exposed for the evil they inflict on this world.

Conas

Psychiatry is a field of nothing more than pure and utter guesswork. Yeah the chemical imbalance exists, but it's a guess on what the problem is in your brain. A lot of very very dangerous drugs out there. I've taken many of them and it's a disgrace to think that a doctor would prescribe an anti-psychotic. They should never be prescribed.

TrollHammaren

whiteonion wrote: »

How do you people who defend psychiatry defend the drugging of infants like they do in America?

People who defend psychiatry don't automatically defend drugging children in America. Psychiatry is out of control in America because it's very much profit-driven, but it's not so much the case here.

I don't know what your issue is with psychiatry as a practice in general; pharmaceutical intervention is just one means of treating someone with a disorder, and in most cases it's not the first choice of treatment.

I completely agree that children with ADHD shouldn't just be pilled out of it to get them to stop acting the bollocks, but some medications can be safely administered to treat syptoms of ADHD, schizoprenia etc if used correctly, properly controlled, and having considered other non-pharmaceutical treatments.

I'm sure there are a few bogey psychiatrists floating around, in the same way there's a few bogey doctors, plumbers, priests, window-cleaners, chefs, sex-shop workers, judges, flight attendants, wine-tasters, cobblers... For the most part, though, psychiatry is comparatively controlled in Ireland and the whole needlessly doping children isn't as big an issue here. Psychiatry has its place, and can do a lot of good.

whiteonion wrote: »

You seem to be surprisingly quiet when psychiatry gets exposed for the evil they inflict on this world.

What evils are you talking about?

Regardless, when a psychiatrist does something wrong I'm more than happy to speak out about it. I don't think you're interested in an answer anyway, I think you're just here to have a bit of an auld rant about psychiatry. Fine, I'm not going to bother change your mind; if you don't want to take pharmaceutical drugs then don't.

JuliusCaesar

Fraud? Run amok?

For heavens' sake lads this is a SCIENCE forum. We don't throw these words around without firm evidence. So as you don't seem to have something rational to contribute, just a lot of prejudice and emotion, I'm closing the thread.

If any of you more reasoning people want to start a similar thread but adhering to the guidelines for the forum, I've no objection.