Posted by Dan_MI on June 17, 2010, at 15:53:19 [reposted on June 18, 2010, at 1:00:56 | original URL]
In reply to Re: Scientology, posted by Christ_empowered on June 17, 2010, at 14:36:41
Scientologists, in my opinion, are dripping with hubris to think that every mentally ill person (myself included) can be cured with vitamins.
It reminds me of myself in college, where I actually believed I would be able to talk a schizophrenic person back into reality. It didn't work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deaths_related_to_Scientology
> I think a lot of times when you look at Scientology vs Psychiatry, people think "Oh, look at these freaky cult filled with rich celebrities trying to destroy a medical field because of their crazy beliefs," when really what you have is a case of one religion vs another.
>
> Yes, Scientology is more overty religious--they have IRS non-profit church status-- but Psychiatry is, as Dr. Thomas Szasz has argued, a religion in its own right. Psychiatrists operate on dogma, not research or science. Psychiatrists have beliefs that are reflected in everything they do, from the DSM to day-to-day "treatment" of patients. Among these beliefs: suicide is bad; people who have a different perception of reality are "psychotic"; objectionable behavior can and should be controlled through medical interventions (what sociologists call "the medicalization of deviance"--its what happens when old forms of religion, like Christian churches, become unable to control behavior that is considered undesirable, but is not illegal); use of (non-prescribed, illegal) drugs is bad and needs to be dealt with. Hardship in life (divorce, violence, etc.) is "traumatic" and needs to be either "treated" or "worked through." Conversations with a specially trained person can "heal" conflicts that lead to undesirable behavior ("therapy" can cure/help "mental illness"). So on and so forth.
>
> So, I guess I'd say it is terrible that this poor woman died under these circumstances. The authorities should look into prosecuting people. However...psychiatrists kill patients every single day, and it is extremely rare for them to be punished for it. Patients die from overdoses, from side-effects from medications (sometimes meds they were coerced or forced into taking), from drug-drug interactions...all in the name of "mental health". Where's the outrage when doctors kill off the very patients they are paid (often by taxpayers and the patient/victim) to help?
>
> Just a thought.
poster:Dan_MI
thread:951392
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20100528/msgs/951400.html