Psychiatry
I don't think that closing down the
psychiatric
hospitals is a great solution unless there is a better, more humane,
well-tested alternative.
There appear to be two strands of thinking within the modern CofS.
One is that psychiatry should be abolished; the other, which I subscribe
to, is that psychiatry should be 'brought under
the law' - in other words it should be made more accountable - both to the tax
payers and to the people using the services. The subject
has changed over the years and it contains more schools of thought within it than when LRH first started out with his alternative
approach to the mind and spirit.
I suspect that the work the people in CCHR have done with legislators and
lawyers helping clear up abuses in the psychiatric industry has helped to
give them their more realistic view about what should actually
happen next. The new CCHR booklet isn't pro-psychiatry by a long way, but
it does take a more measured approach to the problem than that of just
closing down all the institutions.
http://www.cchr.org/failure/eng/index.htm
Tory: I am not for psych hospitals,,,,but I don't think you
should be working so hard at shutting things down, unless you are going to provide care for these people.
Well quite.
Here are extracts from two posts that I've written on psychiatry in the
past.
Dec 19, 2000:
I once helped someone in Scientology who was recovering after a breakdown. I'd take
him for drives around the countryside and to the beach. The idea was to give
him a peaceful, safe environment where he could relax. Part of the program was not
originating communication to him. If he spoke to me I'd acknowledge him but
otherwise we tried to just give him a quiet space.
He was a bit obnoxious sometimes but we got through it. Later he came to my
office and thanked me.
I once saw someone else I know have a breakdown and get put in the local
psychiatric ward. This wasn't a Scientologist. While he was in there at
least one person committed suicide. I went to see him a few times. It was a
terrible place and he became far worse after being committed. I also knew another
woman (again a non-Scientologist) who had a breakdown, and suffered great
indignities through being institutionalized and because of the
drugs she was given which robbed her of much of her previously bubbly personality.
Feb 7, 2001:
Tim
wrote (February 7, 2001): Hey, do you guys really want to ban psychiatry and
everything associated with psychiatry?
From what I've seen and read, the conditions of psychiatric patients are
often worsened by iatrogenic treatments.
However, I don't think it's necessary to ban the subject. We just
need a closer look at what is actually helpful and then some serious
reform.
My father was friendly with a decent psychiatrist who worked on
eliminating psychiatric abuse. They aren't all bad fellows.
From what I've seen they're middle-class people dealing with a very
difficult area (mental illness). Unfortunately they work within
a paradigm in which chemical patches are profitable, easy and
(in the short-term) safe.
I'd like to see a lot more emphasis on things like exercise. I
remember a great study which came out in 1999 that compared drugs and
exercise as treatments for depression and I'm looking forward to
seeing more work on this area. Here is a report on that study:
---
In a recent study of clinically depressed 50- to 77-year-olds at Duke
University Medical Center, researchers found that performing regular
exercise compared favorably in reducing depression over a 16-week
period both with taking the antidepressant Zoloft (a commonly
prescribed serotonin reuptake inhibitor), and with the combination of
taking the drug and exercising.
Six months after the Duke study ended, the researchers completed a
second round of interviews with the subjects to find out how they were
faring. Remarkably, the scientists found that the subjects who were in
the exercise-only group were far less likely to relapse into a major
depression than either the group who had been on medication, or those
who had combined medication with exercise.
From an article called Emotional Wellness by David R. Dudley (found on
Dejanews)
---
Here's an on-line article on the subject:
http://www.enn.com/enn-news-archive/1999/11/112099/exercisedep_7439.asp
I'm afraid that in the real world research money tends to gravitate
towards studies that promote more drug use. I have had this (obvious)
hypothesis confirmed for me by a senior medical researcher and a
pioneering surgeon.
I was talking with the surgeon about a study he'd just done which
showed that a large cocktail of drugs was better for a particular
condition. (This next part may be a bit shocking for anyone who
believes in idealism of doctors as shown on TV). When I suggested it
was lucky for the good of his next research grant that he hadn't found
~less~ drugs to be better - why, he practically fell off his chair
laughing.
Not because it was ridiculous, but because it was an uncomfortable
truth that he actually felt guilty about - something he'd never been
able to talk to anyone about.
Let me get back to your question Tim.
Tim: Hey, do you guys really want to ban psychiatry and everything associated
with psychiatry?
The stated push of CCHR nowadays is often 'to bring psychiatry under the
law' - rather than to eliminate it.
For me, I think it's a fine idea and one that communicates far
better.
Here's their latest booklet - in my opinion it's excellent.
http://www.cchr.org/failure/eng/index.htm
Freddie T
If you blame somebody hard enough and long enough, you have kept on electing
them as cause until they are much more powerful than yourself.
L. Ron Hubbard, 'Handbook for Preclears,' taken from the book of LRH
quotations, 'Knowingness,' 1991, p464.
