Does anyone else think that psychiatry is a pseudoscience?

Question

and that it is all a load of crap?

There is no proof of anything yet they are still prepared to lock people away against their will if your not considered 'normal'

what is normal?
who sets it out?
wouldn't the world be boring without the 'abnormal'?


I don't think people should have the right to lock you up against your will- it's a free country after all so if your not doing anything illegal...

Answer 1

yes

they dont really know anything, but what their narrow set of beliefs define as reality or normal

considering they ignore many many basic things about the human beings they are just a bunch of ignorant apes that have learned textbooks and just do what they are told as protocols

its a pseudoscience yes , even worse

they make MAAAAAAAANY mistakes MANY

we are not in good hands, these people are dangerous
if you care about your family relatives or friends, never advice them these individuals, its not the only way, they in most cases worsten things or create junkies

they dont give a damn about us.
id trust other kind of healers or alt methods, more open minded

i agreed with your question

Answer 2

Psychiatry is a branch of medical science and subject to the same scienfific principles as all medicine. There are classifications of psychiatric disorder, in general they make sense and they distinguish between people who can be treated and people who can't (like psychopaths). People don't get detained against their will unless there is a very good reason, and then only after an assessment which concludes that they present a very real danger to themselves or others. If you want a history of the development of the treatment of mental illness, read 'Museums of Madness' by Andrew Scull(ISBN 0 14 08.0461 7) - that will give you some idea of how appallingly we treated people with mental illnesses in C19th, and if you think psychiatrists today are bad, you wouldn't have wanted to be King George 111 being treated for mania: 'His body was immediately encased in a machine which left no liberty of motion. He was sometimes chained to a stake. He was frequently beaten and starved, and at best he was kept in subjection by menacing and violent language.' ...and that was the king! Imagine how the common folk were treated! So if that's the alternative you want in your free country, give me a psychiatrist anyday!

Answer 3

It is not a psuedo science, there is a bit of empirical science to it. It has only been going properly for about 100 years and still does not know very much about what it is treating.
It has more than its fair share of idiots as practitioners, people who would not even make decent road sweepers are attracted to it is it is an easy option to get a consultancy. A fair number of psychologists and psychiarists only join to have power over helpless people, to make themselves feel adequate and to gain and maintain status.
Other than that, there are some very good dedicated ones who genuinely want to cure you, I am sorry to say they are in the minority. I suffer from schizophrenia and have been sectioned, it helped me as I was rather deluded and could have done something drastic if intervention was not applied, I am glad it was. Locking you up against your will sounds awful, but if your will and decisions are clouded and deluded, it is for the best.

Answer 4

Nope.

Nope, it isn't a Free Country, and it's becoming much less Free too.

Yes, we have a right to 'Lock You Up' - if you are a Danger to the Public and or a Health Hazard too (amongst other things), and 'against your will too.'

In case you'd never thought about, that's the reason why it is that the windows on prison cells have bars on them, and the doors have locks on them ~ and why the Police carry handcuffs.

Sash.

Answer 5

Actually there is lots of evidence of quite a lot of stuff. i know its not proof, but if youre going to be pedantic...
People are sectioned if they are considered to be a threat to themselves or other people.
Normal is deemed to be whatever parameters society sets for particular section of society eg in some cultures it is practice to have visions and hear voices, in the western world youre likely to be diagnosed as schizophrenic (very generally that is).
There is a differenct between 'abnormal' and 'eccentric' and 'normal' behaviour. eg if a nun says god has told her to spend her life looking after people, we applaud her sacrifice. If a man says god has told him to kill prostitues we lock him up. Eccentric is often quaint and harmless. Abnormal is not so pleasant.
Scientifically psychiatry is a young doctrine, whereas physics has been around in its most basic form, for thousands of years. There are therefore bound to be mistakes, and disagreements between practitioners.

Answer 6

No.. a pseudoscience implies there is no scientific (testable) means of applying the work. Drugs obviously have an effect on the human body.. and the effect is testable.. therefor this is not a pseudoscience. Granted I think we hardly know what we are doing with these chemical interactions... but being a young, inexperienced science doesn't make it a fake one.

Answer 7

I think your view of psychological medical treatment is about 60 years out of date.

There used to be an asylum 'lock 'em up and throaway the key' mentality, but thats long gone now. You'll find that several people with psychiatric problems take regular drugs, coupled with counselling or psychiatry.

Yes people are locked up, but you'll tend to find they are the people who are either a risk to society or themselves (arsonists, manic schizophrenics etc.). Therefore its for the best.

Answer 8

did u go to med school and do residency for years and take a loan to do so?.. these are ******* scientists and doctors of the mind.. there is still many things that are theories in psych.. while other's have been validated... please cut the sh!t... psychiatry deserves it's science plaque, psychology is social science, still not pseudo, baffoon.