RE: Psychiatry: Moving From Ice Pick Lobotomies and Chains Into a Brighter Future
What a well researched article that is. It must have taken hours and hours of preparing it. From the over all reading I derive that one always should be critical about treatment, whether it's physically or psychologically.
What will people say in a hundred years ahead about the current treatments?
I am not a friend of generalisations and I think that every person should be regarded and treated unparalleled.
Are you familiar with Systemics?
In case of abnormal behavior it is always interesting to see how normal the surrounding system actually behaves. I tend to see people's craziness as a logical consequence of what they perceive and express as disturbing in the system. When someone is mad, he also reflects the madness of those around him.
The more compulsive the influencing systems, the more compulsive the individual human being.
Since the scale is wide and the expressions are strong or less strong, only those that are more extreme than the others stand out.
How is anyone supposed to go that crazy if there have not been causes that have led to this madness and that cannot be attributed to influential systems?
I therefore see madness more as an indicator of normality and the will to express oneself. People start to bother themselves and others because something doesn't seem right.
If I assume that disruptive behavior points to a resource and it is not considered scary and to be eliminated, then there is much more hope for healing than if I am afraid of a madman and want to sedate him.
Our biggest problem with disorders is that we want them gone too quickly and have neither time nor patience to accompany a slow healing process.
It would also be worth emphasising the acceptance that some people might actually be mentally ill and untreatable. I think that our modernity is obsessed with improving everything and thinking that, in principle, illness can always be cured and death defeated. I think that is questionable.
I don't know Systemics, but war and famine came to mind. What might be out of order in better times becomes "normal" in other times. However, I think we need to look at the brain, at circuitry, for the source of some mental disease. Because I do believe there is mental disease, where people suffer. There may be inflammation or trauma, or any other reason. The disease could be treated if we understood the physical basis. I have a brother who suffered a bout of autoimmune encephalitis. At first it seemed he had dementia, then blood tests revealed physical abnormalities and treatment (mostly immune suppressants) stopped the inflammation. Not soon enough to prevent all damage, but at least the treatment brought him back. I think that is an example of how understanding the physiology of brain disease (that's how I see mental illness) will help to alleviate suffering. For me, that is the point of all medicine.
Thank you for your kind words. It did take many hours. I usually approach subjects I'd like to learn about. I keep reading and then write. It's not an efficient way to proceed, but I learn a lot :)
I understand. It's important to talk about personal cases. What you tell about your brother, makes sense. If there are cures which help the suffering and the surrounding family members they should be sought. I also believe that there is mental illness. I've seen it many times. I am having the view that people could be less afraid of them and handle illnesses more calm. I am against pittying people and instead look for remaining resources and strength in both, the patients and the people around.