so i have to see shrink.

[samofshs]

thats right. my parents are taking me to the old headshrinker cuz im a commie. HALP!

[marxistcritic]

Me too, but for other reasons.

[Bright Banana Beard]

what is headshrinker!?

[makesi]

Expect the shrink to think you're crazy, too.

Just tell them what they want to hear. Otherwise they may diagnose you with a thought disorder and prescribe you something.

[New Tet]

thats right. my parents are taking me to the old headshrinker cuz im a commie. HALP!

Here, this might help: First get them to agree that being gay is as normal as being straight. Then assure them that being a commie is no different than being gay. If that doesn't work, see the shrink and try the same argument on him...

[khad]

Here, this might help: First get them to agree that being gay is as normal as being straight. Then assure them that being a commie is no different than being gay. If that doesn't work, see the shrink and try the same argument on him...
This kid is a boy scout. If his parents are conservative and religious, this will hurt the kid's position even more. Don't give stupid advice.

[makesi]

I dont think he needs a syllogism about gay=communist to help him here.

[makesi]

Furthermore, you might be diagnosed as mildly schizophrenic if you engage in trying to convince the psychiatrist of your "normality" with a bunch of non sequitirs.

[New Tet]

You need to buy a sense of humor.

Do you actually believe that any genuine psychiatrist or psychologist will entertain the misguided notion that someone who professes any political view needs to be analyzed as aberrant?

Now, if this "boy scout" has been repeatedly caught jerking off to a picture of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin that's a different story; even I'd dial 9-1-1 on that one!

[khad]

Do you actually believe that any genuine psychiatrist or psychologist will entertain the misguided notion that someone who professes any political view needs to be analyzed as aberrant?

This is in the united states, in a boy scout family. If the parents are religious, they may be taking him to a religious counselor. You know, like the type who like to "reform" gay people.

[makesi]

Its not impossible. Especially if samofshs is particularly ardent or fervent about his views.

There are "christian" psychiatrists or at least psychologists out there who advertise themselves as such and who, yes, might see certain political views as aberrant.

[RainbowLeftist]

You need to buy a sense of humor.

Do you actually believe that any genuine psychiatrist or psychologist will entertain the misguided notion that someone who professes any political view needs to be analyzed as aberrant?

Now, if this "boy scout" has been repeatedly caught jerking off to a picture of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin that's a different story; even I'd dial 9-1-1 on that one!

Stalin was a looker in his younger days.

[New Tet]

In that case they're stupider than you think. Imagine some anti-gay pseudo-counselor tackling the political questions this kid may have! Worthy of a Monty Python skit!

In truth and in all seriousness what this "boy scout" needs is to transcend the emotional affectation that informs his political views by acquiring a solid education in Marxian sociology and political economy. And that is unlikely to happen until, at the very least, he fully enters the workforce and experiences the class struggle first hand.

Therefore any advise we can give him, other than to keep a good sense of humor handy and a stiff upper [lip], is useless.

Still, the being-a-commie-is-as-good-as-being-gay argument is funny as shit. Ah, I kill myself!

[New Tet]

Its not impossible. Especially if samofshs is particularly ardent or fervent about his views.

There are "christian" psychiatrists or at least psychologists out there who advertise themselves as such and who, yes, might see certain political views as aberrant.

I said genuine psychiatrist.

[New Tet]

Stalin was a looker in his younger days.

You've got a point there.

[LOLseph Stalin]

A shrink for being Communist? What is this world coming to? :rolleyes:

[9]

I said genuine psychiatrist.

No such thing, if you ask me. Modern psychiatry is a pseudo-science.

[New Tet]

No such thing, if you ask me. Modern psychiatry is a pseudo-science.

I'm not sure I agree with that. I think that psychology and psychiatry have discovered effective tools to analyze the various components of the unconscious mind. That is, assuming we accept the existence of a region of the mind called the unconscious.

Years ago, I read a book titled "Marxismo y freudismo" by Felipe Campuzano, presumably a Marxist-Leninist from Mexico. In it he applauded Freudian psychology for having contributed to Marxist thought. I can't recall much of his reasoning for this. I do recall, however, a glaring omission in the book: He never once mentioned, cited or alluded to Erich Fromm, the most prominent Marxist in the field of human psychology.

Later, in discussion with a Cuban friend of mine, the exiled son of a prominent Cuban state functionary, we agreed that it was probably because Marxist-Leninists in Cuba have banned Erich Fromm's books due to his strong criticism of Leninism.

[9]

I'm not sure I agree with that. I think that psychology and psychiatry have discovered effective tools to analyze the various components of the unconscious mind. That is, assuming we accept the existence of a region of the mind called the unconscious.

Years ago, I read a book titled "Marxismo y freudismo" by Felipe Campuzano, presumably a Marxist-Leninist from Mexico. In it he applauded Freudian psychology for having contributed to Marxist thought. I can't recall much of his reasoning for this. I do recall, however, a glaring omission in the book: He never once mentioned, cited or alluded to Erich Fromm, the most prominent Marxist in the field of human psychology.

Later, in discussion with a Cuban friend of mine, the exiled son of a prominent Cuban state functionary, we agreed that it was probably because Marxist-Leninists in Cuba have banned Erich Fromm's books due to his strong criticism of Leninism.

I was speaking only of psychiatry, not of psychology - there is a huge difference.
With regard to psychology, I think it is an interesting field of study. I think there is some danger in certain aspects of it (behaviorism, for example), but I have no objection to psychology as a whole.
Psychiatry, on the other hand, I do genuinely believe is a pseudo-science.

[Comrade B]

I chose to see the shrink due to an obsession with martyrdom. I may still think that there is no greater way to die than for a noble cause, but I have decided that there is plenty to still cling onto in life.
There are some pretty good psychologists out there, I may still be a booze hound, but I am less of a terribly depressed and danger to myself one. Maybe you can have osmething good come out of this as well, no offense (I am pretty damn drunk so I didn't actually read who was posting this, that I say this does not mean that I think there is a problem with you).

[Comrade B]

by the way, the martyrdom thing, it was not so much out of moral guidelines at the time, mostly out of just suicidal wishes (which are stupid and selfish). Take a note to that.

[Dust Bunnies]

Wow that is horrible...I am sorry I have no advice.

[Bright Banana Beard]

I suggest you play as devil's advocate. Tell them that you are trying to bring Jesus and God into atheists' mind.

[New Tet]

I suggest you play as devil's advocate. Tell them that you are trying to bring Jesus and God into atheists' mind.

Hey, there's a good idea! Tell them God told you that He wants socialism for the world. Tell 'em that if Jesus were alive today, he'd be a Marxist!

[Pogue]

Are you really being taken to a shrink cos ur a commie?

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

As far as I know, being a communist is not recognised by the American Psychiatric Association as a disorder. Ask to see the shrink's credentials. If he has none or refuses to show you them, he's a fucking quack and you should leave his office ASAP. If that isn't possible, remain silent, even if he tries to provoke you or talk at you - his time is limited, unlike yours, and not saying anything will fuck up his schedule and/or give him as little as possible with which to make a bullshit "diagnosis".

At least that's what I would do in your situation - I hope this helps.

[F9]

As far as I know, being a communist is not recognised by the American Psychiatric Association as a disorder. Ask to see the shrink's credentials. If he has none or refuses to show you them, he's a fucking quack and you should leave his office ASAP. If that isn't possible, remain silent, even if he tries to provoke you or talk at you - his time is limited, unlike yours, and not saying anything will fuck up his schedule and/or give him as little as possible with which to make a bullshit "diagnosis".

At least that's what I would do in your situation - I hope this helps.

But why?What would it matter if the "doctor" said he is "crazy" or something for been a communist?Personally i would find it hilarious if such things happened and would probably have fun at the "doctor".. And its something i though tbh to avoid joining the army go to a "shrink" and make that i dont know shit etc.
What would be the worst could happen?I cant imagine the doctor could do anything else than telling him that he things he is communist because he isnt "well" so force some mental violence to make him think that he isnt a communist.
Of course i dont know how they work and i am not sure, ohh and Samo all those i wrote are just hypothetical, arent "advices" or something, i really dont think i am the best person to give medical advices.

Fuserg9:star:

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

But why?What would it matter if the "doctor" said he is "crazy" or something for been a communist?

Because the quack is in all likelyhood some kind of brainwasher. I don't know about you but I would avoid contact with such types. Maybe one could be smart or stubborn enough to safely endure it and maybe even have some fun, but not everybody can do that and I do not think it is worth risking it.


Personally i would find it hilarious if such things happened and would probably have fun at the "doctor".. And its something i though tbh to avoid joining the army go to a "shrink" and make that i dont know shit etc.I don't see how you can compare a genuine psychological evaluation to an attempt at brainwashing.


What would be the worst could happen?I cant imagine the doctor could do anything else than telling him that he things he is communist because he isnt "well" so force some mental violence to make him think that he isnt a communist.Knowing how fucked-up the pharmaceutical industry is in the US, it would not surprise me at all if the quack could get his hands on some drugs and make a recommendation to the parents that he takes them. That would be distinctly unpleasant even if the parents don't end up holding him down and force-feeding him the medication.

[samofshs]

i am an eagle scout by choice. it has given me great leadership skills. and look at the "similar" threads. they are not similar at all.

[samofshs]

no pogue. i fucking lied. of course!
new tet: i actually am a christian. you'll see that i run the group called christian leftists. and i do believe that jesus had many very marxist tendencies.
br: i play devils advocate too much XD. thats my sense of humor.

[New Tet]

no pogue. i fucking lied. of course!
new tet: i actually am a christian. you'll see that i run the group called christian leftists. and i do believe that jesus had many very marxist tendencies.
br: i play devils advocate too much XD. thats my sense of humor.

And I respect that. In fact, I think that every true Christian should be a Marxian socialist.

Socialism in practice is the achievement of the Utopian model presented in the Sermon of the Mount.

That's why I like "The Last Temptation of Christ" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Temptation_of_Christ) so much; it is Kazanstakis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikos_Kazantzakis)' attempt to present the ministry of Jesus with a Marxist subtext.

[NecroCommie]

If the shrink is in anyway a normal person, he/she will propably laugh his/her ass off at the parents.

[Angry Young Man]

Here, this might help: First get them to agree that being gay is as normal as being straight. Then assure them that being a commie is no different than being gay. If that doesn't work, see the shrink and try the same argument on him...
I might say that I wasn't born a Marxist. But I probably was.

Anyhow, unless this doctor is a total leech-coat, just explain that you're a Marxist and your parents are right-wing fuckwits who think that political opinions different from theirs qualifies as a mental illness.

[Angry Young Man]

If the shrink is in anyway a normal person, he/she will propably laugh his/her ass off at the parents.
Psychiatrists don't have senses of humour, plus there's some medical practise code. Let's hold out for the doctor politely explaining to his parents the absurdity of their booking an appointment. If this drives them fucking bonkers, then I think he should leave home and arrange to move in with the best placed revlefter.

[Manifesto]

Therapy sucks period. I had to go when I was a kid because my parents got divorced and they thought it effected me when it didn't and the therapist tried to find other things wrong with me. Note do not say anything or partake in anything with the therapist and your parents will eventually make you stop having to go so they do not waste more money. And also they say they do not not say anything to your parents but I am pretty sure they do.

[Manifesto]

And how did your parents find out you are Communist?

[samofshs]

it's pretty fuxing obvious. the way I speak and the things I say. also, my mother looked at my compy screen once when I was here.

[khad]

it's pretty fuxing obvious. the way I speak and the things I say. also, my mother looked at my compy screen once when I was here.
Makesi had some good advice for you earlier in the thread. Tell the bastard what he wants to hear. It would get unpleasant if he decides to prescribe you something.

[Communist Theory]

Boy scouts deserve headshrinkage.

[Manifesto]

it's pretty fuxing obvious. the way I speak and the things I say. also, my mother looked at my compy screen once when I was here.
Seriously? I at least keep it very subtle with the things I say and always lock my computer when I leave the room or someone comes in.

[ls]

A) Try and get out of it somehow with your parents or
B) Tell the shrink what he wants to hear, as ohers have wisely said

[LOLseph Stalin]

Seriously? I at least keep it very subtle with the things I say and always lock my computer when I leave the room or someone comes in.

My parents don't even know that this site exists. If my mom was to find out I doubt she would care. My dad would question it, but I would just say "I'm interested in learning about other viewpoints". He knows I'm interested in politics so that would probably work quite well. :lol: To him I just say I'm left-wing. Of course that could mean anything from Social Democrat to Communist...

[samofshs]

Boy scouts deserve headshrinkage.
wow. fux u.

[Communist Theory]

wow. fux u.
nice.

[scarletghoul]

This is crazy lol
How do psychiatrists treat communism?

[9]

This is crazy lol
How do psychiatrists treat communism?

A lot of repressive societies have used psychiatry as a means of stifling dissent, actually. Members of political opposition have routinely been rounded up and placed in mental hospitals in the past in a number of countries. Samuel A. Cartwright's bogus diagnoses for slaves who were afflicted with 'the urge to flee captivity' are some of the more explicit examples of this.
However, I think it says something very grave about the present state of general indoctrination that this person's own parents are taking them to get "treated" for holding politically-radical views.

[punisa]

Now, if this "boy scout" has been repeatedly caught jerking off to a picture of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin that's a different story; even I'd dial 9-1-1 on that one!

Woot? Don't be so judgmental.
Sexual fantasies about communist gods are a perfect way for a young comrade to get acquainted with his newly discovered ideology :laugh:

Stare at this image of our great immortal leader for 1 minute. If you don't get a boner then you are a fascist ! :lol:
http://br.geocities.com/camaradasadico/stalin.jpg

[scarletghoul]

I am definately not a fascist.

[9]

Stalinists.
http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:cqcEwyFy9ECiVM:http://www.nerve.com/CS/blogs/61fps/2009/01/facepalm.jpg

[rednordman]

Seriously??

If so, this is the most daft thing that i have heard in ages. Its like they think you have some sort of mental illness because you are a communist.

Tell me, if you where a fascist/nazi, would they send you then?

It sounds to me like they need to see the shrink aswell.

[rednordman]

Woot? Don't be so judgmental.
Sexual fantasies about communist gods are a perfect way for a young comrade to get acquainted with his newly discovered ideology :laugh:

Stare at this image of our great immortal leader for 1 minute. If you don't get a boner then you are a fascist ! :lol:
http://br.geocities.com/camaradasadico/stalin.jpgDam You...Im now a fascist!!:laugh:

[rednordman]

My parents don't even know that this site exists. If my mom was to find out I doubt she would care. My dad would question it, but I would just say "I'm interested in learning about other viewpoints". He knows I'm interested in politics so that would probably work quite well. :lol: To him I just say I'm left-wing. Of course that could mean anything from Social Democrat to Communist...Ha! My parents actually do...My dad just emphasises that these sorts of sites are monitored so BE CAREFULL. My mum just asks sounding scared whether or not its a porn site, even after she is told its a left-wing one:lol:!

[Dr Mindbender]

I at least hope your parents would be taking you to the shrink if you'd been a fash.

Although since this is america we're talking about, i sadly doubt it. They'd probably have bought you a conical white mask for christmas.

[NecroCommie]

Woot? Don't be so judgmental.
Sexual fantasies about communist gods are a perfect way for a young comrade to get acquainted with his newly discovered ideology :laugh:

Stare at this image of our great immortal leader for 1 minute. If you don't get a boner then you are a fascist ! :lol:
http://br.geocities.com/camaradasadico/stalin.jpg
Phew! At least I'm not a fascist! :rolleyes:

[Janine Melnitz]

I said genuine psychiatrist.
No reason to believe he's going to one; and if by "genuine" you mean "licensed", you're dead fucking wrong. I've had Christ prescribed to me by state-employed shrinks more than once.

Why is anyone lulzing about this? I realize it's chit-chat, but the situation he's in isn't a fucking joke. I sincerely hope things go well, samofshs. Odds are alright that they will -- and worst case, luckily, is that you'll be prescribed meds nobody can force you to take, and have to talk to a piece of shit once a week.

If the shrink is in anyway a normal person, he/she will propably laugh his/her ass off at the parents.
You do realize that in America it's more than "normal" to equate Communism with Nazism, and psychopathologize any kind of "extremism"?

[Jimmie Higgins]

thats right. my parents are taking me to the old headshrinker cuz im a commie. HALP!

Try and get some Ritalin if you can - that shit is great!

But seriously, if you are solid on your politics, there's not much a psych can do about it. If you are an angry person they will probably try and say that you are attracted to these politics by your anger or a need to rebel. If they try that, then tell them to keep the politics and ideology out of it: let the psycho deal with emotions, he/she is not qualified (and has no right) to convince you to change your political views. If a angry conservative or liberal came to see a shrink, they would never say: oh you voted for Obama/Bush because you are angry or want to rebel from your parents.

[scarletghoul]

All females are fascists.

[Bright Banana Beard]

Rosa Lichtenstein believed in dialectical materialism way more than Precision Random.

[9]

Trolls 'R Us

[LOLseph Stalin]

All females are fascists.

Yes they are, including me! :(

[Communist Theory]

Go shawday its yo birfday!

[samofshs]

<(^_^<) has anyone ever said that that IS ur avatar?

[mikelepore]

If you're taken to a psychiatrist against your will, you could resist by displaying no symptoms that the psychiatrist is interest in.

"Are you depressed"?
"No, life is very good to me. I'm so thankful."

"Any problems with anger?"
"Not really. When things don't go my way I just take a few deep breaths and then I feel better in a minute."

"Have any bad dreams?"
"My dreams usually very pleasant, and I wake up refreshed."

"I don't understand! Why did they bring you here?"
"They said that anyone who has different political opinions than themselves must be crazy."

[spiltteeth]

First, that sucks man. But its happened to me. Shrinks usually try to make out that commie ideas are anti-social and means you have a hard tome normally adjusting to this society (what respectable person doesn't?!) But I would go min with an open mind and be totally truthful. Who knows - you may get something out of it.
However, I've had some truly frustrating experiences with shrinks. So i decided to write up my experiences as a socialist so shrinks would know what it was like. It was published in some obscure place, but I'll post it here and maybe it'll help you. Just PM me if you have any questions.

Also, I'd like to officially ask Scarletghoul to marry me. :wub:

:
The Mental Health Care System as a Capitalist Anti-Christian re-education Camp
A Christian socialist perspective

The mental healthcare industry is NOT a science based institution, it is a socialization factory. The counselors, though well intentioned, are nothing more than cheerleaders who labor under no systematic theory of the self but instead push vague new age agendas, likely to be better versed in Eckhart Tolle than Freud. As a patient, socialist, and Christian this has been my experience, and I’m not alone.
Let’s face it – the mental healthcare industry has become an ineffective revolving door, enacting prison house policies for the mentally ill. If the patient manages to be socialized (i.e. get a job to support themselves), not harm themselves seriously, or bother other people with their messy psychic pain, then they’re cured!
Twice institutionalized, recovering alcoholic/drug addict, clinically depressed, ex-con whos been to prison, I’ve dealt with mental illness all my life and the attendant inefficient bureaucratic system.
Here’s a typical scenario I’ve actually had with a therapist:

The therapist hands me an article entitled “The key to happiness.” Luckily its not about The Secret – I’ve had to read that before. It has a lot of quotes by Buddha.
Me: “I really have no interest in happiness; I’m here to deal with my symptoms.”
Therapist: (baffled) “What? But…the purpose of life is happiness!”
Me: “I understand that viewpoint, but I see things a bit differently, I’m more interested in being useful -”
Therapist: “But that’s why you want to be useful – so you can be happy!”
Me: “Well, I think of Mother Theresa who helped all those children and -”
Therapist: “Because it made her happy! That’s why she did it.”
Me: “Oh…OK…but I think she did it for the kids, regardless if it made her happy or not…”
Therapist: “She wouldn’t have done it unless it made her happy. Trust me.”

The mental health care industry has become a hodgepodge of new age beliefs, westernized Zen, and vapid advice gleaned from Dr. Phil laced with insipid Dali Lamaisms. As a Christian, I feel the therapists are more interested in my soul than in my Psyche, and in pushing their own ideological views they cross an ethical boundary. I’ll sketch a very brief simple history of where this all came from.
Kierkegaard said that there were really only two competing currents of spirituality in the Western world – Socrates and the Judeo/Christian tradition. Socrates represents the whole Gnostic-like philosophy of turning inward to find your own personal truth, your true self, inner-peace, self-fulfillment, happiness, spiritual knowledge, etc While the Judeo/Christian tradition maintains that it doesn’t matter if you are happy or fulfilled, the point is to commit yourself to something greater than yourself – even if it is baffling and terrifying and calls for sacrifice and suffering.
Although not a religious man Freud was very much influenced by his Jewish heritage. It was his daughter, Anna Feud, that somewhat twisted his teachings. She thought people’s problems were often the result of not being properly socialized; she even had her own school of children. She sought to strengthen people’s egos. Abnormal behavior was whatever happened to be unacceptable in that society. It was this type thinking that produced such diagnosis in America as ‘Drapetomania’ – which was supposed to explain why slaves ran off the farm!
In reaction to all this came Wilhelm Reich, who influenced many psychologists such as Fritz Perls, Alan Watts, and Abraham Maslow. Gathered at the Esalen institute in California, they believed it was an anti-human culture that was the problem. The solution was to undo the repressive damage done by society. Out of this grew the Human Potential Movement, many of whose members are now new age guru superstars. This movement incorporated a lot of eastern mysticism as well. A lot of its adherents had come from vibrant social justice movements but, dissatisfied, turned away from the world and instead focused their attention on the inner self.
The Christian and socialist view is different. One reason Christianity became so popular was its willingness to selflessly care for the sick. Missionaries in India, for example, were astonished at the terrible conditions of the poor and people’s seeming indifference or flimsy excuses citing ‘Karma’.
It all sounds academic, but depending on your orientation, the treatment you receive for mental health will impact your politics, how you experience suffering and even your relationship with society. It has to do with two modes of relating to life: fetishistically or symptomal; which corresponds to a new-age capitalistic or a Christian socialist way of being.
Take a simple example, a child dies. The mother, although sad, faces the trauma head on. She openly discusses the tragedy, and seems to manage perfectly well. Then one day her daughter’s cat dies – and the mother breaks down needing institutionalization.
What happened? She used her daughter’s cat as a fetish. A fetish is any object that you project significance upon that objectively it does not possess. Some people wear charms that they believe will protect them from evil – that is a fetish object. In this case the cat embodies and “holds” the truth of her child being dead, which the mother officially renounce’s. Intellectually she ‘knows’ that her child is dead, but she refuses the emotional reality. When the cat died, the truth “was released” and she was forced to confront the emotional reality of her child’s death. The process is called fetishistic disavowal because one disavows their own feelings.
Symptomal functioning occurs when the trauma returns to one in the form of symptoms. So the trauma of loosing a child would return to the mother most likely as symptoms like depression, crying, hysterics, etc
New age spirituality borrows from various eastern religions to create a fetishistically functioning spirituality, which lends itself to living more comfortably in a capitalist society. So the fact that many top Wall Street guys have earned the moniker “Zen capitalists” makes sense. Zizek, a Slovenian cultural critic whose written extensively on this topic and from whose work is borrowed much of these conclusions, remarks that “If Max Weber were to live today, he would definitely wrote a second, supplementary, volume to his Protestant Ethic, entitled The Taoist Ethic and the Spirit of the Global Capitalism.”
It is this westernized Asiatic thought that allows us to fetishistically mentally and emotionally detach from the frantic pace of our destructive consumerist society while still participating in it.
As a socialist I believe in engaging the chaos of society, of feeling the symptoms –rage, despair, hope, outrage etc - caused by our unjust system. I cannot take my therapists advice to step back, use my “wise mind” to accept it, to see that it is all ephemeral.
One therapist read me a story from the East about a student and a master watching a horrific war scene. The master was chuckling. He explained to the student that none of it was real, it was all illusion, and it is like a play about war in which the players forget that they are just acting. That is how I ought to approach the world, he told me.
Real or not, the suffering is real; I imagine the pain of the families who’ve lost loved ones in that war is real. As a socialist I would consider it my duty to pick a side and offer what I could. As a Christian I believe what we do in this world matters.
Really the tasks of most mental health institutions are to fit the patient into society. The number one issue is always employment. But it’s deeper than that. Recently I was given a sheet of ‘Adult Pleasant Events Schedule’, devised by Marsha M. Linehan, a prominent psychology researcher. I will pick out the most propagandistic of the 176 suggestions : Planning my career, Getting out of (paying on) debt, Thinking I have done a full day's work, Buying household gadgets, Saving money, Gambling, Going home from work, Buying, selling stock, Thinking about buying things, Thinking about getting married, Working, Watching TV, Thinking about pleasant events, Thinking about having a family, Splurging, Dressing up and looking nice, Buying things for myself (perfume, golf balls, etc.)
It is obvious that these “events” are meant to inscribe the patient into the dominant new-age/capitalistic ideology. The idea being that if the mentally ill simply renounce their own ways of being, and put on a capitalist garb, they will fit into society nicely and happily. Which reminds me of a quote from Robert Frost: "If society fits you comfortably enough, you call it freedom."
It’s all politicized. Ideology creeps into the most innocent psychological theories. We need to go back to a scientific objective practice of therapy. Finally, it is vital that a reassessment of what self-determination and patient autonomy really means to therapy and how it ought to function ethically.

[Wanted Man]

Do they still try to pin "Oppositional Defiance Disorder" on people? David Rovics had a pretty cool song about that long ago.

[spiltteeth]

Do they still try to pin "Oppositional Defiance Disorder" on people? David Rovics had a pretty cool song about that long ago.

I myself was diagnosed with "Anti-social Personality Disorder"

Actually in the Soviet Union they used the diagnosis of sluggishly progressing schizophrenia (http://www.revleft.com/wiki/Sluggishly_progressing_schizophrenia) , a special form of the illness that supposedly affects only the person's social behavior, with no trace of other traits: "most frequently, ideas about a struggle for truth and justice are formed by personalities with a paranoid structure," according to the Moscow Serbsky Institute (http://www.revleft.com/wiki/Moscow_Serbsky_Institute) professors. :(

[Sarah Palin]

If you're taken to a psychiatrist against your will, you could resist by displaying no symptoms that the psychiatrist is interest in.

"Are you depressed"?
"No, life is very good to me. I'm so thankful."

"Any problems with anger?"
"Not really. When things don't go my way I just take a few deep breaths and then I feel better in a minute."

"Have any bad dreams?"
"My dreams usually very pleasant, and I wake up refreshed."

"I don't understand! Why did they bring you here?"
"They said that anyone who has different political opinions than themselves must be crazy."

Perfection.

[Janine Melnitz]

Splitteeth, it's absolutely true that psychotherapy is (and always has been) about socialization, inasmuch as it is about being able to live and function. You're also right about the necessarily ideological dimension of socialization, especially the trend in bourgie New Age shit; but if psychotherapy is not to be about socialization, what purpose can it serve? I run into a lot of people who think untreated mental illness is either not a big deal, or even somehow potentially revolutionary; this is pretty ridick, and I'm not claiming you hold this position, but I haven't seen a third one (neither Zen Capitalist nor aNtiPsYcHIatRy) other than my own, i.e. "Use the meds/CBT/etc. for your own purposes and stay wary of bullshit."

[spiltteeth]

Splitteeth, it's absolutely true that psychotherapy is (and always has been) about socialization, inasmuch as it is about being able to live and function. You're also right about the necessarily ideological dimension of socialization, especially the trend in bourgie New Age shit; but if psychotherapy is not to be about socialization, what purpose can it serve? I run into a lot of people who think untreated mental illness is either not a big deal, or even somehow potentially revolutionary; this is pretty ridick, and I'm not claiming you hold this position, but I haven't seen a third one (neither Zen Capitalist nor aNtiPsYcHIatRy) other than my own, i.e. "Use the meds/CBT/etc. for your own purposes and stay wary of bullshit."

Yea, that is a good point. People with mental illness suffer terribly and I hate when people say things like 'who's to say whose REALLY crazy' or 'their just being persecuted because their different' etc
When homosexuality was considered a 'mental illness' because it had no place in open society, many gay men and women suffered. I had a great aunt who was institutionalized because of being a lesbian. Anna Freud used to "fix" homosexuals so they would fit into society. First, I'd say there is a difference between society and the human community - after all, who would want to "fit" better into Nazi society? Remember Kraptomania? This was a diagnosis to explain the neurotic manic behavior of why slaves ran way from the fields! So abnormal...
I think therapy, besides making clearer the things that motivate us, out to be about exploring why certain thoughts and behaviors get in the way of your well being and ability to lead a satisfying life as defined by the patient. So I don't want to work a 9-5 job at a big company, and am willing to deal with the consequences, then the shrink ought not try to "fix" those behaviors and attitudes that keep me from being a corporate drone.