Why are people antipsychiatry?
I would guess because, to anyone with a chronic illness, the idea of a cure is very attractive. People are frustrated that science hasn’t progressed to the point of instant, permanent relief with zero side effects. So they lash out, and look for other answers. Eventually, most people realize that while psychiatry isn’t perfect, it’s out best option.
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Partly yes, but Psychiatry also has terrible flaws in it. Psychiatry literally fueled eugenics. More mentally ill have been gassed in chambers for being outcasts than people would believe. Its done ALOT of harm around the world
I know Psychiatry is still in infant stages and just like every profession, there are good and bad Psychiatrists. Any medical profession that cant scientifically back any theories as to why people have " mental disorders " is already at a disadvantage. Psychiatry is frowned upon by real medical professionals / scientists as complete Pseudoscience.
I mean homosexuality was a “mental disorder” right up until the third edition of the DSM came out. The LGBT community then protested it and it was just casually removed lol. Doesnt say much for these " disorders " that are added to the book by a " show of hands " by just being added and removed at will.
However I agree that psychiatry is definitely trying and i cant blame them for their lack of knowledge. Mental health is a very tricky beast and due to lack of funding doesnt help Psychiatrys cause. So i am not anti Psychiatry, I just think that 60 percent of people who are medicated dont really need to be. I think the pharma guys went a bit nuts marketing their pills. For the ones who do need meds, im happy they find relief from them and wish that they stay on them.
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Well, I am not completely anti psych (edit, perhaps it helps to not use the “scary word”), but i do think psychiatry has issues and can do better. I and everyone around me (including health workers) are quite pissed about how i was treated.
I did not expect a magical cure. I did expect them to at least try and listen and try and help me. As i would expect from another doctor.
An example: I and my family and several professionals begged for 5 years to offer me therapy and emdr. They refused to offer this, without giving a reason, while actively blocking my access to other providers.
If a cardiologist would block his patients with lifethreatening issues from receiving a proven good treatment with no reason, he d be sacked and sued. Here the literal answer was: oh, well, 5 years is only a short time to wait for help.
I think people working in psychiatry arent all bad. But it isnt on par with other specialisms or kept to similar standards imho.
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Oops, I used the antipsych word again…so it was blocked. I tried to express in a mild way why im sometimes critical of psychiatry. Or of the care i personally received, at least.
If they ever were…you will not have any way of seeing their argument in future.
The internet is not free and open anymore.
They are no longer a factor.
Fixed it for you. It only gets flagged and temporarily hidden until a mod unhides it (or doesn’t).
60 years ago a dude won a nobel peace prize for trans-orbital lobotomies which caused irreversible, devastating brain damage to many patients. The practice was ended by the first pill to come along for the same reason, I think it was Thorazine but don’t quote me on it.
So I’m thinking they are assuming that the newer medicines are still unsafe. It is a logical thing for them to think, seeing as how the step right before this one was a freaking lobotomy.
I take them because I have to, not because I like them. And there’s no guarantee that in 10 years Zyprexa will still work for me. Seroquel became a bad med for me after ten years doing fine on it. And the longer you’re on these medications, the more TD and Akathisia you have to worry about. TD can become permanent, and akathisia rarely becomes permanent but does in rare cases.
If you go on youtube and look up akathisia and tardive dyskinesia, you’ll see some scary stuff. Even if meds are the better option, you’re still rolling dice. I also rolled dice and crapped out on lasik and have light blur at night now. I’m tired of being the statistical outlier. The dice are not kind to me.
Psychiatric medicine that IS NOT an antipsychotic is fine. I’ve never had problems from those drugs, just the APs.
EDIT: to be fair, abstaining from your medicine is also rollinng dice. I didn’t mean to badmouth APs, just to state the fact that they really could be better.
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Wow you really missed the point of my post, maybe try read it next time. Sure pharmaceutical companies are making billions off psychotropic meds. Mental health is a very complex illness that is what i mean by " its a beast ". Really, try work with me here.
Let me just explain where the anti psychiatry movement stems from. Its not just a casual patient whos pissed off with his doctor fighting against modern psychiatry practices like @Ninjastar suggested. Although it does have a part to play . During the early 19th century in Germany mentally ill patients who were locked up in Asylums and had no means of getting out, they were incapable of functioning out of asylums. Doctors experimented on them at no cost trying to get them better by doing all sorts of experiments. All of these experiments unfortunately failed as we now know today.
When eugenics came into the picture shortly afterwards a new era of Psychiatry was born. Instead of helping mentally ill patients, they incarcerated them and gassed them in chambers. Most of this was done in secret. The terrible man who was at the helm of the holocaust was drawn to Eugenics and fueled a mass killing of mentally ill patients in Germany. Psychiatrists were basically caretakers in asylums.
After most of the damage was done, the media got wind of what was happening and an " anti Psychiatric " movement was born. It was an actual movement like we see many movement today. It eventually died down as the" holocaust " overshadowed it. This is where it stems from. This is the actual " anti psychiatry movement. "
Lots of these doctors paid the price for their crimes, some committing suicide, some walking scott free. But just so you understand this was the actual start of this " movement "
When Thorazine came out it was hailed as the miracle drug. Patients got given a shot of it and some of their psychotic symptoms dissapeared. However It wasnt a good enough drug that was letting people out of Asylums, it had SEVERE side effects and basically turned the patients into vegetables. When Miltown came out shortly afterwards it created a completely new industry for Psychiatrists. They were able to take patients out of asylums and modern Psychiatry was born.
Alot of flak with Psychiatry lies from other medical professionals and Psychiatry, as with Psychiatrists patients and the side effects they have. Psychotropic medication is still in infant stages compared to other areas in the medical fields. This is where im saying not enough funding was allocated to mental health sector for research and development. The sources are out there as to which medical fields get the most spent on them. Just google it.
Im tired now and going to bed i cant carry on this.
But you really are either extremely bad at reading or your native language is not English @Fatspectator
We are yet to strike a balance. Now we’re seen as fit to live in communities except for emergencies, we’re now seen as easy targets for funding cuts and unfortunately people will just start ending up in jail instead rather than being cared for.
It’s more the system than psychiatry itself.