>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.
Hi Susan,
Most states have laws allowing forced "treatment" of the mentally ill.
Following is a post by one of the anti psychiatry organizations I keep up
with.
"As many of you know, CNN published a "puff piece" article which
praises a horrible practice: Bizarre experiments where 12 year
olds are given the super-powerful neuroleptic drugs... in order
to supposedly HEAD OFF future "schizophrenia." So doctors are
going around looking for "precursor" signs of "schizophrenia"
such as "magical thinking," and giving "prophylactic" doses of
these brain damaging drugs."
How much choice to you think these 12 year olds have? Psychiatry doesn't
even have a physical abnormality to diagnose schizophrenia. Now they are
presuming to diagnose "pre schizophrenia"?
You ask what non materialistic psychiatry might look like. First, it would
acknowledge that a scientific definition of mental illness is not known. "We
don't know," is apparently difficult for materialists. "We may never know"
is apparently completely beyond their comprehension. I've often heard a
defense of Darwinism stating that "random mutation and natural selection" is
the best naturalistic explanation for nature's complexity science has been
able to come up with, and therefore all school children must be indoctrinated
with it.
Second, if mental patients believed they had some power over their own mental
processes, free will -- something which can not be defined, measured,
predicted or manipulated by science -- , fewer of them might willing submit
to the "expert" brain manipulators. There may well be huge numbers of
grateful mental patients out there. If so they are silent. I could give you
several hundrend web sites of ex mental patients actively protesting
psychiatry -- if you are interested.
Bertvan:
>By the way, the title was tongue in cheek. I really have no desire to "cure"
>anyone who is satisfied with a materialistic philosophy.
Susan:
>You say that often, but sorry, I don't believe you.
I believe you, Susan, when you claim to regard people who disagree with you
as liars. It's why I rarely answer any of your posts.
Bertvan
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Mar 09 2000 - 16:20:21 EST