Posted by baseball55 on December 27, 2013, at 21:19:49
In reply to crippled, not by illness, but..., posted by Christ_empowered on December 27, 2013, at 18:48:04
I understand that you had a horrific experience with psychiatrists. I, on the other hand, have never had anything but kind, compassionate and empathic experiences. And I've been hospitalized several times. I only had one doctor I disliked and that was because he was inexperienced and awkward, not because he was malicious or unkind.
when Szaze wrote, he was writng about a time when psychiatrists were working mostly in state institutions, doing ECT before paralytic agents came into use, doing lobotomies, etc. Therapy consisted of these weird Freudian theories about Oedipal syndromes,lying on a couch and free-associating. Even schizophrenia was blamed on bad parenting.Psychiatry has a lot to answer for. But so do other medical specialities - think the Tuskagee experiment.
Psychiatry has come a long way since then. And even then, it wasn't all bad. I was in a state hospital for nearly two years when I was a young teen, and the psychiatrists and counsellors helped me a lot -- were kind and appreciative and gently pulled me out of total isolation and psychosis.
I'm sorry you had this terrible experience. But to condemn psychiatry wholesale seems unfair.
My experience is that this is a relatively low-paid and low-status specialty in medicine and most who choose it do so because they are natural care-takers who are willing to sacrifice money and prestige for the experience of really helping troubled people to change and grow.
poster:baseball55
thread:1057053
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20131209/msgs/1057073.html