The anti-psychology/psychiatry movement, wtf?

[Sam Da Communist]

The anti-psychology/psychiatry movement, it is a movement out to expose the middle class capitalist classification of the mental health diagnoses. It is anarchist/libertarian in nature.

They say that mentallly ill people are used by socially contructed beliefs (just like the socially constructed Race theory) to help a society/government to maintain and keep order in soceity.

They make fascinatingly good points that medicine corporations are fucking with the minds of the mentally ill and profiting from social misbeleifs and fears.

One thing i personally came to a conclusion is that captialism creates STRESS/depression/anxiety. The capitalist elite need to manage this issue for it may be harmful to their system! so they dont want a rebel or a revolutionary against the wage-slavery and commodification of life.

scary mind control zombification of humans ay?

[Chambered Word]

I'm pretty sure it's just Scientologists who are butthurt about psychiatrists counselling ex-members because as we all know Scientology has a history of mentally damaging anyone who thinks about leaving.

[Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor]

The anti-psychiatry movement is an absolute joke with no scientific basis. It's politically motivated in order to blame sufferers for their own situation, thereby removing any responsibility to help them.

Capitalist stresses surely contribute to depression and anxiety, but these phenomenon are also medical conditions that can arise under any political system. I have clinical depression. If I wasn't taking my medications, I'd be too depressed and tired to even get out of bed. I wouldn't be out there on the streets rebelling against the system. You need to get better information on how these things actually work.

Stigma against mental health issues is one of the most widespread social prejudice that spans across political ideologies. I see the left claiming capitalism causes it (like it causes everything including cancer if you believe some people). The right claims the people are lazy. The moderates claim the people are lazy and automatically assume the person is depressed for social reasons (bad life) rather than accepting that some people have genetic issues. People are uncomfortable with the idea that their psychology can manipulated by genetics. Newsflash. Our body is the result of genetics.

Depressed and anxious people don't generally revolt. Some cases of bipolar or violent behaviors might give you a point. But is this person verbally and sometimes physically abusing a loved one, ruining themselves in the process, worth having another loud voice at a rally?

The government isn't waiting with a pack of psychiatrists at communist rallies going "go medicate that one, stat." The medical industry does exploit people with health conditions, but it's widely exaggerated. Most of this exploitation amounts to extending patents and gouging people at the cash register.

[Robocloud]

I think some psychiatrists are medicating people for the sake of financial gain, but most therapist do their best to help people.

I simply don't believe that people who devote their lives to helping others should be seen negatively. I have met many admirable mental health professionals.

[Salyut]

Stigma against mental health issues is one of the most widespread social prejudice that spans across political ideologies. I see the left claiming capitalism causes it (like it causes everything including cancer if you believe some people). The right claims the people are lazy. The moderates claim the people are lazy and automatically assume the person is depressed for social reasons (bad life) rather than accepting that some people have genetic issues. People are uncomfortable with the idea that their psychology can manipulated by genetics. Newsflash. Our body is the result of genetics.

*revolutionary brofist*

The anti-psychiatry movement is pretty much one guy and Scientology. Some of the non-scientologists are total dicks too, lemme quote one nutcase who runs around commenting on any youtube video that in any way involves bipolar disorder.


I met a …
I met a clinically-diagnosed bipolar. Prolonged research via PubMed suggests the condition is very often a cynical fraud+hoax, used to explain/excuse/justify:
unpredictable
vicious
deceitful
self-centered
immoral
boastful
vindictive
irrational
selfish
unreasonable
vile/evil conduct, to get drugs/welfare checks/attention/sympathy.
Advice how to deal with these cheats: RUN! Shun them FOREVER. IMMEDIATELY. It’ll save time & grief. Find someone worthy of your kindness/affection. You’ve been warned!
...
OF COURSE IT’S A COP-OUT!
Kid “diagnosed” as bipolar means one or more of three things:
* Diagnosing shrink is gullible
* Diagnosing shrink is a collaborator in the fraud
* Parent failed to discipline child properly.
In all events, ALL “bipolar”-diagnosed kids should be immediately taken into custody by social services. V.limited parental contact thereafter. Kids sent to REALLY TOUGH, East European boot camp where bad behavior or disrespect earns KICKING..
They’ll come back miraculously cured

lolwut

[Sam Da Communist]

It is not all scientologists. There are lefties in there. libertarians and socialsits.

one marxist socialist co-founder guy agrees with some of the anti-psyc movement and also is skeptical of some of it as well. I personally believe that not all elements of psychology can be opposed.

But the start of psychology should be criticised. psychology has come a long way from the past.

But still more has to be done to nationalise/internationalise the medicine companies.

The anti-psch movement is individualist in nature, that is what i dislike.

[¿Que?]

A lot of the criticism I hear is really just a general criticism of the pharmaceutical industry. You can't cure all your problems with pills.

But I think a big part of the anti-psych mentality came from R.D. Laing. I've never read a book of his all the way through, but he is mentioned in Adam Curtis' Century of the Self.

Now Adam Curtis may be a neocon, but he makes good documentaries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._D._Laing#Laing_and_.22anti-psychiatry.22


Laing and "anti-psychiatry"

Laing is regarded as an important figure in the anti-psychiatry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-psychiatry) movement, along with David Cooper (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cooper_%28psychiatrist%29), though he never denied the value of treating mental distress. He wanted to challenge the core values of a psychiatry which considers mental illness as primarily a biological phenomenon, without any social, intellectual or political significance.
Laing was a critic of psychiatric diagnosis, arguing that diagnosis of a mental disorder contradicted accepted medical procedure: diagnosis was made on the basis of behavior or conduct, and examination and ancillary tests that traditionally precede diagnosis of viable pathologies like broken bones or pneumonia occurred after (if at all) the diagnosis of mental disorder. Hence, according to Laing, psychiatry was founded on a false epistemology: illness diagnosed by conduct but treated biologically.
The fact that medical doctors had annexed mental disorders did not mean they were practicing medicine; hence, the popular term "medical model of mental illness" is oxymoronic, since, according to Laing, diagnosis of mental illness did not follow the traditional medical model. The notion that biological psychiatry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_psychiatry) is a real science or a genuine branch of medicine has been challenged by other critics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-psychiatry#Psychiatry.2C_a_pseudo-science) as well.

[Buffalo Souljah]

What many Marxists, anarchists, libertarians and others criticize psychology for is its tendency to reify certain socially constructed schemata for interpreting and understanding the human mind, and then taking these as implicit and natural. Take, for instance, the DSM-- until 1973, homosexuality was listed, and widely accepted as a mental disorder. Additionally, in the 19th Century, there was a disorder the symptoms of which included a slave's desire to free himself of his master's dominion. Psychology and psychiatry are relative, the question is relative to what? Are the biases that we maintain in diagnosing and treating patients leading us to beneficial conclusions or are we hindering social progress? I understand where the "anti-psychiatry" movement comes from, though I believe much of psychology/psychiatry can be useful as an aide, always taking into consideration that clinical case studies and empirical data are all we have to rely on for verification, and it is not a "pure" science with exact and perfect prognosis in any and every case. As long as we accept this, many, including Juergen Habermas (see his principle of "phenomenological hermeneutics" in this regard) have no problem embracing psychology/psychiatry as a socially beneficial tool.