>>every time you launch into this rant I hear the rattle of chains. Back
>>before the evil materialists figured out a way to manage mental illness
>>with "persuasion and intimidation or by chemical and surgical manipulation
>>of the brain." The used to do the kind and enlightened thing--chain them in
>>a dungeon. Before the evil materialists tried to figure out the
>>non-naturalistic basis of mental illness the enlightened non-materialists
>>thought it was caused by demons or evil spirits.
>>
>
Bertvan:
>You do seem to have a consistent reaction to skepticism. Anyone questioning
>Darwinism is
>
>"A YEC, believes in the tooth fairy, or is trying to impose some religious
>belief on everyone."
ah, but I didn't say that. :-)
if you think what I said was in error, please show me where that error is.
(It's called debate, you should look the word up in the dictionary
sometime. It's kinda fun, you might like to try it.)
what WOULD non-materialist mental health care look like? What's wrong with
trying to understand mental processes?
>Similarly, anyone skeptical of the effectiveness of psychiatry is
>
>"advocating chaining mental patients in dungeons".
that's the face of "non-materialism" in this context. There was a time when
nobody was a "materialist" Everybody believed in the immaterial. Since a
satisfactory answer was available--they are infected by evil ghosts, they
are cursed by the gods, etc.--nobody bother to try to figure out what
caused it and attempt to cure it. Since the severely mentally ill are often
quite dangerous to themselves or others locking them up was the only
answer.
You said this:
". . . the number who feel damaged by such assaults
upon their brains are growing, and grass-roots opposition to psychiatry is
proliferating."
I want to know who is without a choice in mental health? Who is getting
these assults against their will? Few insurance companies will pay for
mental health care. Public mental health facilities are routinely starved
for funding and have few beds for any but the most severely mentally ill.
Large numbers of the mentally ill are unable to take care of themselves,
are utterly untreated and are homeless. I'm sure they're grateful for their
freedom from drugs, intimidation, brain surgery and all that stuff.
Anyone in psychiatric treatment is free to walk away at any time. You
were, all those years ago.
>By the way, the title was tongue in cheek. I really have no desire to "cure"
>anyone who is satisfied with a materialistic philosophy.
You say that often, but sorry, I don't believe you.
Susan
----------
For if there is a sin against life, it consists not so much in despairing
of life as in hoping for another and in eluding the implacable grandeur of
this one.
--Albert Camus
http://www.telepath.com/susanb/
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