Posted by Tom on September 4, 1999, at 18:59:07
In reply to Info on selecting psychiatrist, posted by Kate on September 4, 1999, at 9:52:29
Psychiatry is based on a medical model: Mental illness + medicine= cure. The problem is the very material of psychiatric diagnosis is peoples subjective experience which is paraphrased into medical speak. The underlying assumption is that your mind isn't correct in feeling the way you do about things, therefore a medicine will redress the balance. I'm a physician and I think this approach is not only a serious oversimplification of the nature of human experience, but it also initiates cycles of drug dependancy by disassociating cognition and emotion. It is a medical fact that after the ingestion of various antideprssants the artificial stimulation of the relevant neurones leads to downregulation of postsynaptic receptors for the neurotransmitters that are being boosted. In other words a dependancy cycle is initiated. I'd recommend the cheaper alternative of a psychotherapists where your moods and experience mean something more than a DSM classification. Of course I may be entirely wrong.
poster:Tom
thread:10992
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990829/msgs/11005.html