Sublime
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At Ionia State Hospital in Michigan—once a psychiatric institution, now a prison—Black men involved in the civil rights movement were disproportionately labeled schizophrenic, their political rage reframed as psychiatric pathology. Why? Because in 1968, the DSM-II redefined schizophrenia, adding “hostility” and “aggression” as symptoms. Suddenly,... See more
Brenden • Schizo-surveillance: the politics of sanity
In some ways, the distinction between normalcy and pathology is arbitrarily defined—as well as hard to measure.
Meghan O'Rourke • The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness
In psychiatry there is a certain condition known as “delusion of reprieve.”
Viktor E. Frankl • Man's Search for Meaning
Szaszians hold on to a fantasy where an objective definition of “disorder” not only exists, but it also successfully covers recognized disorders in general medicine while conveniently excluding mental illnesses as faux-disorders. Szaszians also commit themselves to some version of the idea that medical authority only applies to genuine disorders,... See more
Reviewing Paul Bloom on Psychopathology
The situation is even worse as The Last Psychiatrist explained almost 20 years ago (and Thomas Szasz 70 years ago):
“mental illness is not a genetic disease, or even [...] a psychological one. It is a social disruption. On a desert island, no one can tell you are insane.” https://t.co/UDbcWLlqDM
fundamental claims of modern American psychiatry 1 are not based on well-tested research but on science that is itself a bit mad: misconceived, flawed, erroneous, misinterpreted, and often misreported.
Stuart A. Kirk • Mad Science: Psychiatric Coercion, Diagnosis, and Drugs: 0
