I read R. D. Laing’s book, The Politics of Experience and The Bird of Paradise in the late ‘60s. I was amused by Laing’s contention that psychosis is merely a psychedelic voyage of discovery, a view that was undoubtedly fortified by his imbibing of LSD. As such, he mused that madness is an invention of psychiatry – an insight with which I still enjoy irritating any psychiatrist I am unfortunate enough to encounter – and, insofar as it exists at all, is largely a creation of psychiatrists.
Little did he know that his book was prophetic: the current trend of psychiatry is to label just about any human emotion that isn’t sunnily positive a Mental Disorder. The notable exception is same-sex attraction, a human experience which, in spite of its generally leading to inner conflict, unhappiness, instability and physical illness has been deemed Perfectly Normal by the politically correct wusses in the American Psychiatric Association.
From here:
Once again the armies of psychiatry are on the move, marching like imperial legions into unconquered territories of the human spirit. Psychiatrists do excellent work as individuals but when they join international bureaucracies they can cause trouble and look foolish.
The evidence is the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, known as DSM-5. It’s now in final draft, scheduled for release during the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting next May.
Authors of the various DSM editions appear anxious to demonstrate that just about every trace of emotional discomfort deserves professional attention. Sadness is being reclassified as sickness. The medicalization of everyday life is progressing with astonishing speed.
People not directly involved may view this with a light heart, as fresh intellectual confusion created by pretentious, over-confident experts. It’s more serious for patients. A medical label that’s invented by an ambitious theorist and carelessly applied by an untrained doctor can erode self-confidence. A diagnosis takes on a life of its own.
Habitually, the DSM volumes lead to over-diagnosing and over-prescribing. Grief, for instance, receives special DSM attention. Humanity traditionally regards sorrow as a part of life but in the DSM it indicates depression. In DSM-5, reactions to grief lasting longer than two weeks may be diagnosed as depression, perhaps requiring antidepressants.
To make a long story short, after injesting a goodly amount of a happy pill I approached the doctor as said
what are these?
he said “They are tranqualizers , to which I replied
Do I look F—-G tranquil to you?
As I walked out he said “you just can’t quit those you know”
These clowns are quite prepared to hand over meds that can have catastrophic results to people that would use them in excess to escape.
A sunny disposition is probably a front to hide a deeper issue, and should be diagnosed before it’s too late!
Depression is a real illness. Going on anti depressant medication saved my life. Anti depressants don’t make a person high – they make you normal. Using SSRIs in excess doesn’t lead to escape, it leads to feeling physically ill. I’ll grant you that saying that grief that lasts more than two weeks needs chemical treatment is excessive, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
“One of Izzy’s first sentences, even before she was two, was, ‘Me a boy, Mama.’ I thought her confusion was cute. By the age of three, I discussed the issue with our pediatrician. By age five, I was in the doctor’s office again, and consulting a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist, who came with great credentials and was the head of the pediatric psych association here in Oregon, had no clue how to handle the situation. Our final meeting with him concluded with him stating: ‘For God’s sake, just let her be a lesbian.'”
http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/books/2012/08/16/mother-transgender-toddler-gets-lesson-love
Not sure what your point is, Lisa. It seems from reading the article that the child really did have physical problems, not mental ones. Intersex is a real physical condition:
http://www.isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex
I didn’t see any reference in the article to discernible physiological problems past this mention, Kate, “I then went to an endocrinologist, who drew some blood from Izzy for lab work. When discussing the results, we found that my child had been making both sets of hormones, estrogen and testosterone, in equal parts. We learned that in a child so young, however, hormones can ebb and flow, and that this was not conclusive to anything.”
It was some of the things the child was quoted as saying that made me wonder. I just don’t think we should always jump to the worst possible conclusion, that’s all.
…and the article does say that the child is intersex.
The article was from the Advocate, Kate. In other words, it would.