The Chant of the Psychiatrist by Sheldon Carruthers

A voice echoes in my mind
I need to rehabilitate mankind
I need to contain the schizophrenic
With drugs powerful and eugenic

Whether they cooperate or not
They won’t escape their lot
They are my bread and butter
For them the chemically induced gutter
For me it’s lobster for supper

I don’t really mean them harm
I just want them to all be calm
Human rights are an awful shame
For here, no mortal can complain
All hope ye abandon here
‘Cos none of us even care
The militating sickness of those who disagree
We’ll put them in their place then give them ECT

So long as we all get paid
We’ll keep up this damn charade
‘Their’ brains belong to us now
In the MENTAL HEALTH PARADE
All freedom, freewill forbade

You see it’s a chemical imbalance a symptom
That makes us ‘oh so sad’
Although no one else can see
We’re all glad they’re safe now
Albeit in captivity

For seven years we studied to write hypocrisy
If our stocks and shares in drugs go up
It’ll make us smile with glee

*****

Back to Poetry

***

Mad in America hosts blogs by a diverse group of writers. These posts are designed to serve as a public forum for a discussion—broadly speaking—of psychiatry and its treatments. The opinions expressed are the writers’ own.

***

Mad in America has made some changes to the commenting process. You no longer need to login or create an account on our site to comment. The only information needed is your name, email and comment text. Comments made with an account prior to this change will remain visible on the site.

1 COMMENT

  1. Brilliant poem! The intermingling of greed and the way psychiatrists profit by damaging the brains of others is chilling. I especially love the line:
    “For them the chemically induced gutter
    For me it’s lobster for supper”
    It’s so vivd.
    Bravo!

    Report comment

LEAVE A REPLY