You can add Charlie Chaplin to the mix: âA Message For All Of Humanity – Charlie Chaplinâ courtesy T&H – Inspiration & Motivation on YouTube
And thatâs about as far as it goesâyâall can keep your stupid floppy-sack!
The main problem with psychiatry is that all you need to do is say âbooâ to have the fools reach for their stupid DSM. And most psychologists are no different.
Worth a glance: âSplitting: The Psychology Behind Binary Thinking And How It Limits A Diversity Of Opinions,â by Ilana Redstone in Forbes Magazine
My takeaway was this quote from psychologist Andrew Hartz:
âThereâs an Islamic mystic who described how harmful it is to divide people into groups, say only good things about some and only bad things about othersâŠâ â something that accurately describes the âmental healthâ industry.
What I find remarkable about the enlightenment era is how adamant some people were about separating the mind and body. And I wonder if this had anything to do with the fact that these were men who never had to contend with the agonizing realities of either menstrual cramps or childbirth. Because if theyâd had to, I bet theyâd have stopped thinking like a bunch of stubborn two-years olds. And while I donât believe thereâs any such thing as the completely egotistical construct invented by the completely egotistical Freud called âpenis envyâ, there is definitely such a thing as âpenis privilegeâ.
Cartesian dualism is actually a form of âsplittingâ, the defense mechanism used by people unable to tolerate ambiguity. And âsplittingâ is what characterizes most of the people who practice psychiatry and psychologyâand when challenged, they resort to gaslighting.
So there you have it, the two things that characterize the system of âmental healthâ: splitting and gaslighting.
I agree, feeling and thinking are intricately intertwined. But as you say, âFeelings do not lieâŠâ
James Hillman is brilliant:
ââŠ.medical jargon refers to nothing.â
âIt is an extreme materialism and pro technocratic thinking based on labels, procedures and it will be worse.â
âThinking based on procedures and labels is a programming of the enlightenment era leading to technocracy.â
âAnd there is no sign of psychiatric victims in this corrupted evil society.â
This is an evil society and things probably will get worse in some ways. But I hold out hope for radical change in how people see âmental illnessâ.
Your most welcome, Penni.
And I agree, the metaphors used by the mental illness industry are a huge disservice to humankind.
Correction: Dr. Cornwall, not âColemanâ. I do apologize for my oversight.
Listen and enjoy: âAwaiting on You Allâ by George Harrison, courtesy Soft lyric on YouTube
âThe JHP was the venerable journal of a revolutionary movement begun in the 1950âs to provide a âthird forceâ in the field, to counter the two dominant movements of Freudâs psychoanalysis and B.F. Skinnerâs behaviorism.â
Human beings are not just their brain chemistry; they are mind, body and spirit/soul. In my mind, humanistic psychology recognizes what other psychologies and certainly psychiatry do not, which is the overriding reality and beauty of the human soul, without which life loses its purpose and meaning.
Check this out on YouTube: âThis Is Priceless – George Harrison On What Lies BeyondâŠâ T&H – Inspiration & Motivation
Uncomfortable feelings labeled as âmental illnessâ are messages from within that something is wrong in our life, not in our âbrain chemistryâ.
What happens in a world without mercy? You get things like psychiatry and psychology.
By the time some chooses to train as a psychiatrist, itâs usually too late to make any headway.
For the most part, NAMI is a support group for the families of âThe Identified Patientâ.
Psychology needs to shut up and change its name to cognicology. It doesnât belong in the âfeelingsâ business. And psychiatry needs to shut up entirely.
I used to think having a medical degree indicated an ability to think critically. Needless to say I no longer think this way.
But Dr. Gotzsche is that rare exception.
And sometimes extremes states are caused by living under too much stress.
The field of psychology should be called âbehaviorismâ because thatâs all it is. After all, âpsycheâ means âsoulâ and souls canât be âclinically studiedâ.
And psychiatry should be called drug pushing, because thatâs EXACTLY what it is.
I was delighted to read something about human suffering that actually captures the essence of what it means to be human:
âTo have seen those JHP journals on the library shelves full of merciful caring about human suffering, was proof that the human heart and spirit could prevail over the head and the dangerous objectification of the disease model of psychiatry.â
âThe contrast was human-hearted compassion and potential for all, verses human-disordered abnormality/pathology and emotion-killing psych drugs for all.â
My thanks are to you, Dr. Coleman. A heart-centered approach should be the gold standard for helping people, and also for living a good life.
Correction: SHARING kindness and REALLY meaning it â
Wonderful article and wonderful quote:
âMerciful love can help relieve the emotional suffering of extreme states.â
Not receiving merciful love is usually the reason people find themselves in an extreme state. And showing kindness can bring them back.
The âmental health systemâ mutilates human relationships.
All part of the new colonialism.
A scarily accurate depiction of modern medicineâand psychiatry in particular.
Psychiatry calls it psychosis.
People donât need a disease-centered, agenda-laden system. They need caring human beings without an agenda who know how to listenâsomething that used to be called a very good friend.
Healing happens in understanding, NOT âdiagnosesâ.
Someone should ask these characters if theyâd feel comfortable having a robot look after their kids.
Dear Penni,
Thank you for sharing your story. I relate to it because like you I believe much of what is thought to be âmental illnessâ is actually a spiritual breakthrough brought about by repeated moral injuryâinjuries usually made worse by a system that speaks a different language.
And I wish you many Happy Returns on your Spiritual Birthday!
âEgo collapseâ is a great term. When the ego dies the spirit survives.
And I wouldnât be surprised if higher rates of addiction to psychiatric drugs correlates with higher levels of income. After all, thatâs just what the pharmaceutical cartels are counting on.
I agree, physics canât replace the psyche. And for the most part, distressed people are suffering from soul sickness, not âmental illnessâ.
I think it depends on what you consider âmental illnessâ.
Enduring financial hardship and deprivation can cause high levels of stress that can adversely affect peopleâs state of mind and ability to function. And unfortunately this usually gets categorized as âmental illnessâ.
Who needs âbrain imagingâ to prove that poverty and maltreatment damages children in lasting ways?
Only idiots needs brain scans to realize that emotional scars are as real as physical ones.
The researchersâ stupidity is rooted in assuming that âdepressionâ is an illness in the physical sense.
Itâs time these people put away their electronic toys and signed up for some courses in semantics and logic.
ââŠ.the moment we want to be something we are no longer free.â – J. Krishnamurti
âFreedom from the desire for answer is essential for the understanding of a problem.â – J. Krishnamurti
âDo not pursue what should be, but understand what is.â – J. Krishnamurti
Thought is never free because it is based on knowledge, and knowledge is always limited.â – J. Krishnamurti
âA man who says, âI want change, tell me how toâ, seems very earnest, very serious, but he is not. He wants an authority whom he hopes will bring about order in himself. But can authority ever bring about inward order? Order imposed from without must always breed disorder.â
– J. Krishnamurti
âAll ideologies are idiotic, whether religious or political, for it is conceptual thinking, the conceptual word, which has so unfortunately divided man.â – J. Krishnamurti
And thereâs nothing more divisive than psychiatry and psychology.
Definition for Divisive: alienating, estranging, isolating, schismatic, discordant, disharmonious, inharmonious â all of which aptly describes psychiatry and psychology.
Correction: Ramesh is the author, not Rasx.
âThey talk about the psyche without the psyche itself, it is as if they were talking about theology without God. It is insanity.â
Psychiatry and psychology are the products of an insane society.
Psychiatry and psychology fail society because they ignore the reality and transcendence of the human soul.
âThe primary cause of disorder in ourselves is the seeking of reality promised by another.â – J. Krishnamurti
âIf you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation.â – J. Krishnamurti
If more people found peace in themselves, fewer would end up taking psychiatric drugs or paying some mannequin to listen to them.
Rasx says, ââŠnot to project the image of what you want to be as against paying attention to what you areâŠâ
Psychiatry and psychology exploit peopleâs confusion.
The author asks, âWhat alternatives do you have to simply coping with it? Simply adjusting to it?â
I think finding some kind of peace within yourself is what needs to happen before anything else.
Imo, âtherapyâ itself is a pathololgized relationship.
Psychologically speaking, the author seems to have all his ducks in order. However, he contradicts himself when first saying:
âFrom the relational-intersubjective standpoint, both the therapist and the context/system are unavoidably a part of the very experiences that become pathologised as individual disorders.ââ
And then saying:
âThough in relational-intersubjective therapy there is an inevitable âasymmetryâ â as there necessarily is in any therapeutic relationship â the model [relational-intersubjective] assumes and encourages an epistemological equality with regards to what is occurring and what it means.â
Why canât he see that an âinevitable asymmetryâ directly contradicts any claims of âepistemological equalityâ â the lack of which is extremely pathologizing?
All heâs done is prove how some people will say anything to maintain a pathologizing power imbalance, which, incidentally, ensures him of being capitalistically compensated.
Thereâs no point in having a discussion with people already convinced the moon is made of green cheese.
Itâs not that complicated. Peopleâs emotions and frames of mind are most often the result of their interactions with others, while people stuck in Cartesian thinking are usually the result of disconnected control freaks addicted to power.
This article does a good job of explaining how Freud and Descartesâ dissociative ideas became a gaslighting technique that exists to this day
âRelational-intersubjectiveâ is just a fancy term for seeing the person in front of you.
Dr. Gotzsche says, âADHD is the product of vested commercial, political, and institutional interests.â
Psychiatry itself is a product of vested commercial, political, and institutional interests.
Who in their right mind would assume thereâs no collusion between the FDA and Big Pharma when so much moneyâs at stake? And donât forgetâwhen their stint is up at the FDA, youâll find them on the board at some Big Pharma.
Financial interests always win out.
Psychiatry is propaganda disguised as science.
Judi Chamberlin: âPeople are unlikely to question the underlying premises of their occupations, in which they often have a large financial and emotional stake.â
This is why so few âcliniciansâ critically evaluate psychiatryâs many unprovable assumptions: the validity of their âdiagnosesâ, the reliability of their prognosis, and the necessity and safety of their so-called âmedicationsâ. And their habitual use of the word âclinicalâ hides the fact that they themselves are afraid of admitting their whole shebang is full of holes.
If you want to persuade people, just pepper your speech with scientific language, itâs an effective marketing tool for just about anything.
Correction: âdoubt my realityâ means doubt my intuition
And I donât think anyone can successfully argue that psychiatry is anything more than a glorified drug racket and medicalized con game.
The complexity of the mind first and foremost includes the emotions, as these are ultimately what guides peopleâs thoughts and actions.
Traumatic injury/memory gets stuck in the body as much if not more than anywhere else. And this is where psychiatry, psychology, and western medicine in general miss the boat. The DSM is an extreme example of how fragmented western approaches are.
Psychiatry and psychology have destroyed peopleâs faith in their ability to process emotional trauma without drugs or reliance on some foolâs idea of âpsychotherapyâ.
Thatâs for damn sure. But itâs gotten even sicker since hitching its wagon to the pharmaceutical industry as anything thatâs profitable financially inevitably controls the narrative. But megavitamin therapy sounds interesting though, as it probably helps restore peopleâs messed up physiology from either psychiatric drugs or other psychoactive substances like alcohol, etc.
And anythingâs better than psychiatryâs sanitized drug hustling or psychologyâs mindless minds fucks.
Definition for Mind Fuck: the process of raping someoneâs intelligence and/or beliefs with lies and manipulation
Definition for Psychiatry and Psychology: the raping of someoneâs intelligence and/or beliefs with lies and manipulation
David,
Thank you for your generous offer, but right now Iâm not needing it. But I donât doubt EMDRâs effectiveness as trauma definitely gets stuck in the mind and memory, and people definitely need alternatives to psychiatryâs drug-happy medical model.
Correction: psycho-TROPIC drugs, not âpsychoticâ drugs, although in my experience thereâs not much difference â
Scwnorway,
Thank you for the fantastic link.
It would be great if psychiatry were disbanded altogether. But realistically this wonât happen anytime soon because real change rarely comes from the top down. More likely to happen is psychiatry eventually going the way of cigarette smoking, meaning it will probably take a long time for the majority of the population to learn from bitter experience that psychiatryâs sick assortment of diagnoses and drugs are not the best answer.
However, I think it inevitable that the DSM will be formally discredited, hopefully with an admission that most psychic distress is caused by relational-environmental factors. And who knows? Maybe sooner rather than later an increasing number of general practitioners will be less likely to automatically prescribe psychotic drugs.
I canât say enough good things about something that fosters reconnecting with oneself rather than symptoms, i.e. psychiatryâs superficial âdiagnosesâ. Reconnecting With Yourselfâ needs to be everyoneâs motto.
Your kind and considerate perspectives are EXACTLY where the âtherapeutic modelâ (and anyoneâs perspective for that matter) needs to be.
And âtalk therapyâ is not only the epitome of capitalism, itâs capitalism at its worst â
maedhbh,
Thank you for sharing your personal observations about therapy; they closely mirror my own:
1. The dishonesty of paying for kindness and compassionâwhich is the opposite of kindness and compassion
2. Using âtransferenceâ to protect and maintain what is essentially a destructive power dynamic
3. Money wasted on bad memories âdug up about which nothing can be doneâ
4. Being told you are incurably ill and hopelessly broken from someone with something to gain
5. Forced to cope with abandonment from boundaries âsuddenly put up by a previously accepting therapistâ
6. That most therapists are egomaniacs
7. That most therapists like having power over vulnerable people for all the wrong reasons which DEFINITELY âtakes a certain level of arrogance to think that wayâ.
Thank you maedhbh for saying it all.
And I forgot to mention how IFS uses curiosity in untangling the complexity of the mind rather than shutting it down with drugs or other narrow-minded âtherapeuticâ methods.
Yes! Psychiatryâs continuous diagnostic rambling is enough to drive anyone batty.
And because pharmaceutical companies are greedy â
So whatâs the point of âtalk therapyâ?
Pictures speak louder than words.
Thank you for agreeing with me, Someone Else. I just hope the world is finally ready to listen to something thatâs long overdue.
Terry,
I just visited your website (healingtheself.net) and am glad I did. Itâs thorough without being exhaustive and accessible without being simplistic, something essential in an area as broad as mental health. Your âPerspectivesâ section is particularly illuminating as it includes the most relevant topics: âThe Spectrum of Traumaâ, âBreaking the Trauma Cycleâ, âWestern Medicineâ, and âInternal Family Systems (IFS)â. Itâs important you placed these topics together as these are all interconnected, and connecting the dots is something too few people are doing. And the quotes youâve chosen are brilliant.
Thank you for devoting your life to something so important and central to what truly matters. I wish you the best in your new vocation.
Birdsong
My anger at psychiatry ultimately lead to my leaving psychiatryâand in that way anger proved valuable.
Dear Terry,
Thank you for saying everything that needs to be said about a non-pathologizing approach to psychic distress. You succeed in making the complicated understandable in a beautifully cogent way.
I appreciate your explaining in detail how Internal Family Systems parts-centric approach acknowledges not only the impact of the subconscious, but also âthe notion of the Selfâ and how respecting that Self, oneâs âtrue essenceâ or innate dignity, is central to the healing process, i.e., âbecoming wholeâ. And I especially appreciate your mentioning how psychiatry is âlocked into a paradigm of neurotransmitters and genetics, [that] misses whatâs right in front of its face, and turns a blind eye to mountains of evidence supporting the role of environmental distressâi.e., traumaâin mental health.â Your ideas are SPOT ON.
I too believe âa revolution is brewing with respect to mental health treatment in our cultureâ, but more strongly I hope âthe beauty of IFSâ will be at the forefront thisâand perhaps eventually of life itself.
Psychiatry isnât about humility, itâs about disconnection and judgment; itâs a psychological cancer that affects all of society.
Imo, psychiatry is nothing more than an absurd gallery of pseudoscientific diagnoses whose DSM represents one gargantuan psychological autoimmune âdisorderâ.
Itâs too bad psychiatry canât diagnose its own own pathological tendency to diagnose and label everything under the sun.
In contrast, Internal Family Systems is a path towards true healing, as itâs based on compassion and common sense.
Psychiatry isnât about listening, itâs about imposing pseudoscientific beliefs on others.
And most of the time people are âdiagnosedâ before theyâve even uttered a wordâand most of the time their goose is cooked if the doctor doesnât like them.
Never underestimate the power of the internet, and M.IA. is a good place to start.
Correction: DIDDLY-SQUAT
You canât talk yourself into forgivingâit has to be feltâsomething I suspect Decartes knew diddly about.
And psychiatry is neither intuitive NOR thoughtfulâbut it IS emotional nitpicking – –
CORRECTION: Healthy forgiveness isnât about inducing shame through emotional power plays.
Imho, healthy forgiveness isnât about inflicting guilt through emotional power plays.
And I think itâs more important to forgive oneself for not wanting to forgive those who have hurt us.
I also bet Decartes, like most of todayâs psychiatrists and psychologists, was secretly one angry dudeâand Heaven knows thereâs nothing more destructive than unacknowledged angerâwhich I think is the foundation of all of psychiatry and most of psychology.
And thereâs nothing wrong with anger; itâs one of most instructive and protective emotions anyone can haveâif dealt with authentically.
Thereâs nothing objective about psychiatry; it sees people through a psychologically distorted lens.
Dear Dr. Ophir,
Thereâs now a fighting chanceâthanks to people like youâfor which Iâm eternally grateful.
And as word of your book gets out among the general public, I seriously believe youâll find way more allies than foes.
Thank you for fighting the good fight, Dr. Ophir. I wish you all the best from now on in your truth-telling quest.
Birdsong
Rasx,
Thank you for the wonderful quote from Heidegger:
ââŠthere are thoughtless emotions but no emotionless thoughtsâŠâ
I think CBT is an exceptionally thoughtless approach. And how do I know this? UmmmâŠIâm not sureâŠI just had a feeling.âŠ
Thank you for thoroughly explaining the true nature of healthy forgiveness and questioning its value when itâs used to control people.
Yet another attempt by the âmental health industryâ to psychiatrize every culture with its tone-deaf heavy-handedness.
Thank you for an outstanding article.
Itâs heartening to know that Dr. Ophirâs book is receiving such positive scholarly reviews. I hope his bravery encourages others like him to speak out against the institutional gaslighting not only surrounding ADHD, but all the other scientifically baseless âdiagnosesâ that constitute the fallacious field of psychiatry. And I sincerely believe itâs only a matter of time before it collapses from the weight of its own lies.
ericwsetz says, âThe first step is a willingness to be there with the patient and understand what they are saying.â
Which just happens to be the basis of ANY healthy relationship, and most importantly needs to starts with the first: with oneâs parents/caregivers in childhood
ericwsetz says, âPatients are not out of their minds they are too deep in it.â
Yes! And itâs not just psychiatry â âpsychotherapyâ often sets up its own convoluted âclinicalâ traps for people needing to get OUT of their heads â
CORRECTION: Decartesâ way of thinking always struck me as pretty ONE-SIDED â which has turned out to be a detriment to humanity, imho.
So-called âmental health awarenessâ in schools is about as helpful as an infestation of head liceâpsychological head lice, that is. They are no longer places to learn and be educated, they are places to be labeled and âmedicatedâ.
And children often live up to a teacherâs worst expectations.
And for what itâs worth, Descartesâ way of thinking always struck me as pretty narrow-mindedâand I bet he was an egomaniac to boot!
Psychological issues donât belong in a medical textbook.
Making value judgments based on forgiveness is not conducive to the healing process; itâs an entirely personal matter that canât be dictated.
People forgive in their own time and in their own way, if at allâand whether or not thatâs good or bad is for them alone to decide.
Rebel,
Please note: nowhere did I claim that âforgiveness is impossibleâ â I said forgiveness is SOMETIMES impossible.
And I respectfully find your attitude towards a lack of forgiveness to beâfor lack of a better wordâunforgiving.
CORRECTION: âThat explains psychiatryâs main flaw: it refuses to see âSYMPTOMSâ in context.
You can add Charlie Chaplin to the mix: âA Message For All Of Humanity – Charlie Chaplinâ courtesy T&H – Inspiration & Motivation on YouTube
And thatâs about as far as it goesâyâall can keep your stupid floppy-sack!
The main problem with psychiatry is that all you need to do is say âbooâ to have the fools reach for their stupid DSM. And most psychologists are no different.
Worth a glance: âSplitting: The Psychology Behind Binary Thinking And How It Limits A Diversity Of Opinions,â by Ilana Redstone in Forbes Magazine
My takeaway was this quote from psychologist Andrew Hartz:
âThereâs an Islamic mystic who described how harmful it is to divide people into groups, say only good things about some and only bad things about othersâŠâ â something that accurately describes the âmental healthâ industry.
What I find remarkable about the enlightenment era is how adamant some people were about separating the mind and body. And I wonder if this had anything to do with the fact that these were men who never had to contend with the agonizing realities of either menstrual cramps or childbirth. Because if theyâd had to, I bet theyâd have stopped thinking like a bunch of stubborn two-years olds. And while I donât believe thereâs any such thing as the completely egotistical construct invented by the completely egotistical Freud called âpenis envyâ, there is definitely such a thing as âpenis privilegeâ.
Cartesian dualism is actually a form of âsplittingâ, the defense mechanism used by people unable to tolerate ambiguity. And âsplittingâ is what characterizes most of the people who practice psychiatry and psychologyâand when challenged, they resort to gaslighting.
So there you have it, the two things that characterize the system of âmental healthâ: splitting and gaslighting.
I agree, feeling and thinking are intricately intertwined. But as you say, âFeelings do not lieâŠâ
James Hillman is brilliant:
ââŠ.medical jargon refers to nothing.â
âIt is an extreme materialism and pro technocratic thinking based on labels, procedures and it will be worse.â
âThinking based on procedures and labels is a programming of the enlightenment era leading to technocracy.â
âAnd there is no sign of psychiatric victims in this corrupted evil society.â
This is an evil society and things probably will get worse in some ways. But I hold out hope for radical change in how people see âmental illnessâ.
Your most welcome, Penni.
And I agree, the metaphors used by the mental illness industry are a huge disservice to humankind.
Correction: Dr. Cornwall, not âColemanâ. I do apologize for my oversight.
Listen and enjoy: âAwaiting on You Allâ by George Harrison, courtesy Soft lyric on YouTube
âThe JHP was the venerable journal of a revolutionary movement begun in the 1950âs to provide a âthird forceâ in the field, to counter the two dominant movements of Freudâs psychoanalysis and B.F. Skinnerâs behaviorism.â
Human beings are not just their brain chemistry; they are mind, body and spirit/soul. In my mind, humanistic psychology recognizes what other psychologies and certainly psychiatry do not, which is the overriding reality and beauty of the human soul, without which life loses its purpose and meaning.
Check this out on YouTube: âThis Is Priceless – George Harrison On What Lies BeyondâŠâ T&H – Inspiration & Motivation
Uncomfortable feelings labeled as âmental illnessâ are messages from within that something is wrong in our life, not in our âbrain chemistryâ.
What happens in a world without mercy? You get things like psychiatry and psychology.
By the time some chooses to train as a psychiatrist, itâs usually too late to make any headway.
For the most part, NAMI is a support group for the families of âThe Identified Patientâ.
Psychology needs to shut up and change its name to cognicology. It doesnât belong in the âfeelingsâ business. And psychiatry needs to shut up entirely.
I used to think having a medical degree indicated an ability to think critically. Needless to say I no longer think this way.
But Dr. Gotzsche is that rare exception.
And sometimes extremes states are caused by living under too much stress.
The field of psychology should be called âbehaviorismâ because thatâs all it is. After all, âpsycheâ means âsoulâ and souls canât be âclinically studiedâ.
And psychiatry should be called drug pushing, because thatâs EXACTLY what it is.
I was delighted to read something about human suffering that actually captures the essence of what it means to be human:
âTo have seen those JHP journals on the library shelves full of merciful caring about human suffering, was proof that the human heart and spirit could prevail over the head and the dangerous objectification of the disease model of psychiatry.â
âThe contrast was human-hearted compassion and potential for all, verses human-disordered abnormality/pathology and emotion-killing psych drugs for all.â
My thanks are to you, Dr. Coleman. A heart-centered approach should be the gold standard for helping people, and also for living a good life.
Correction: SHARING kindness and REALLY meaning it â
Wonderful article and wonderful quote:
âMerciful love can help relieve the emotional suffering of extreme states.â
Not receiving merciful love is usually the reason people find themselves in an extreme state. And showing kindness can bring them back.
The âmental health systemâ mutilates human relationships.
All part of the new colonialism.
A scarily accurate depiction of modern medicineâand psychiatry in particular.
Psychiatry calls it psychosis.
People donât need a disease-centered, agenda-laden system. They need caring human beings without an agenda who know how to listenâsomething that used to be called a very good friend.
Healing happens in understanding, NOT âdiagnosesâ.
Someone should ask these characters if theyâd feel comfortable having a robot look after their kids.
Dear Penni,
Thank you for sharing your story. I relate to it because like you I believe much of what is thought to be âmental illnessâ is actually a spiritual breakthrough brought about by repeated moral injuryâinjuries usually made worse by a system that speaks a different language.
And I wish you many Happy Returns on your Spiritual Birthday!
âEgo collapseâ is a great term. When the ego dies the spirit survives.
And I wouldnât be surprised if higher rates of addiction to psychiatric drugs correlates with higher levels of income. After all, thatâs just what the pharmaceutical cartels are counting on.
I agree, physics canât replace the psyche. And for the most part, distressed people are suffering from soul sickness, not âmental illnessâ.
I think it depends on what you consider âmental illnessâ.
Enduring financial hardship and deprivation can cause high levels of stress that can adversely affect peopleâs state of mind and ability to function. And unfortunately this usually gets categorized as âmental illnessâ.
Who needs âbrain imagingâ to prove that poverty and maltreatment damages children in lasting ways?
Only idiots needs brain scans to realize that emotional scars are as real as physical ones.
The researchersâ stupidity is rooted in assuming that âdepressionâ is an illness in the physical sense.
Itâs time these people put away their electronic toys and signed up for some courses in semantics and logic.
ââŠ.the moment we want to be something we are no longer free.â – J. Krishnamurti
âFreedom from the desire for answer is essential for the understanding of a problem.â – J. Krishnamurti
âDo not pursue what should be, but understand what is.â – J. Krishnamurti
Thought is never free because it is based on knowledge, and knowledge is always limited.â – J. Krishnamurti
âA man who says, âI want change, tell me how toâ, seems very earnest, very serious, but he is not. He wants an authority whom he hopes will bring about order in himself. But can authority ever bring about inward order? Order imposed from without must always breed disorder.â
– J. Krishnamurti
âAll ideologies are idiotic, whether religious or political, for it is conceptual thinking, the conceptual word, which has so unfortunately divided man.â – J. Krishnamurti
And thereâs nothing more divisive than psychiatry and psychology.
Definition for Divisive: alienating, estranging, isolating, schismatic, discordant, disharmonious, inharmonious â all of which aptly describes psychiatry and psychology.
Correction: Ramesh is the author, not Rasx.
âThey talk about the psyche without the psyche itself, it is as if they were talking about theology without God. It is insanity.â
Psychiatry and psychology are the products of an insane society.
Psychiatry and psychology fail society because they ignore the reality and transcendence of the human soul.
âThe primary cause of disorder in ourselves is the seeking of reality promised by another.â – J. Krishnamurti
âIf you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation.â – J. Krishnamurti
If more people found peace in themselves, fewer would end up taking psychiatric drugs or paying some mannequin to listen to them.
Rasx says, ââŠnot to project the image of what you want to be as against paying attention to what you areâŠâ
Psychiatry and psychology exploit peopleâs confusion.
The author asks, âWhat alternatives do you have to simply coping with it? Simply adjusting to it?â
I think finding some kind of peace within yourself is what needs to happen before anything else.
Imo, âtherapyâ itself is a pathololgized relationship.
Psychologically speaking, the author seems to have all his ducks in order. However, he contradicts himself when first saying:
âFrom the relational-intersubjective standpoint, both the therapist and the context/system are unavoidably a part of the very experiences that become pathologised as individual disorders.ââ
And then saying:
âThough in relational-intersubjective therapy there is an inevitable âasymmetryâ â as there necessarily is in any therapeutic relationship â the model [relational-intersubjective] assumes and encourages an epistemological equality with regards to what is occurring and what it means.â
Why canât he see that an âinevitable asymmetryâ directly contradicts any claims of âepistemological equalityâ â the lack of which is extremely pathologizing?
All heâs done is prove how some people will say anything to maintain a pathologizing power imbalance, which, incidentally, ensures him of being capitalistically compensated.
Thereâs no point in having a discussion with people already convinced the moon is made of green cheese.
Itâs not that complicated. Peopleâs emotions and frames of mind are most often the result of their interactions with others, while people stuck in Cartesian thinking are usually the result of disconnected control freaks addicted to power.
This article does a good job of explaining how Freud and Descartesâ dissociative ideas became a gaslighting technique that exists to this day
âRelational-intersubjectiveâ is just a fancy term for seeing the person in front of you.
Dr. Gotzsche says, âADHD is the product of vested commercial, political, and institutional interests.â
Psychiatry itself is a product of vested commercial, political, and institutional interests.
Who in their right mind would assume thereâs no collusion between the FDA and Big Pharma when so much moneyâs at stake? And donât forgetâwhen their stint is up at the FDA, youâll find them on the board at some Big Pharma.
Financial interests always win out.
Psychiatry is propaganda disguised as science.
Judi Chamberlin: âPeople are unlikely to question the underlying premises of their occupations, in which they often have a large financial and emotional stake.â
This is why so few âcliniciansâ critically evaluate psychiatryâs many unprovable assumptions: the validity of their âdiagnosesâ, the reliability of their prognosis, and the necessity and safety of their so-called âmedicationsâ. And their habitual use of the word âclinicalâ hides the fact that they themselves are afraid of admitting their whole shebang is full of holes.
If you want to persuade people, just pepper your speech with scientific language, itâs an effective marketing tool for just about anything.
Correction: âdoubt my realityâ means doubt my intuition
And I donât think anyone can successfully argue that psychiatry is anything more than a glorified drug racket and medicalized con game.
The complexity of the mind first and foremost includes the emotions, as these are ultimately what guides peopleâs thoughts and actions.
Traumatic injury/memory gets stuck in the body as much if not more than anywhere else. And this is where psychiatry, psychology, and western medicine in general miss the boat. The DSM is an extreme example of how fragmented western approaches are.
Psychiatry and psychology have destroyed peopleâs faith in their ability to process emotional trauma without drugs or reliance on some foolâs idea of âpsychotherapyâ.
Thatâs for damn sure. But itâs gotten even sicker since hitching its wagon to the pharmaceutical industry as anything thatâs profitable financially inevitably controls the narrative. But megavitamin therapy sounds interesting though, as it probably helps restore peopleâs messed up physiology from either psychiatric drugs or other psychoactive substances like alcohol, etc.
And anythingâs better than psychiatryâs sanitized drug hustling or psychologyâs mindless minds fucks.
Definition for Mind Fuck: the process of raping someoneâs intelligence and/or beliefs with lies and manipulation
Definition for Psychiatry and Psychology: the raping of someoneâs intelligence and/or beliefs with lies and manipulation
David,
Thank you for your generous offer, but right now Iâm not needing it. But I donât doubt EMDRâs effectiveness as trauma definitely gets stuck in the mind and memory, and people definitely need alternatives to psychiatryâs drug-happy medical model.
Correction: psycho-TROPIC drugs, not âpsychoticâ drugs, although in my experience thereâs not much difference â
Scwnorway,
Thank you for the fantastic link.
It would be great if psychiatry were disbanded altogether. But realistically this wonât happen anytime soon because real change rarely comes from the top down. More likely to happen is psychiatry eventually going the way of cigarette smoking, meaning it will probably take a long time for the majority of the population to learn from bitter experience that psychiatryâs sick assortment of diagnoses and drugs are not the best answer.
However, I think it inevitable that the DSM will be formally discredited, hopefully with an admission that most psychic distress is caused by relational-environmental factors. And who knows? Maybe sooner rather than later an increasing number of general practitioners will be less likely to automatically prescribe psychotic drugs.
I canât say enough good things about something that fosters reconnecting with oneself rather than symptoms, i.e. psychiatryâs superficial âdiagnosesâ. Reconnecting With Yourselfâ needs to be everyoneâs motto.
Your kind and considerate perspectives are EXACTLY where the âtherapeutic modelâ (and anyoneâs perspective for that matter) needs to be.
And âtalk therapyâ is not only the epitome of capitalism, itâs capitalism at its worst â
maedhbh,
Thank you for sharing your personal observations about therapy; they closely mirror my own:
1. The dishonesty of paying for kindness and compassionâwhich is the opposite of kindness and compassion
2. Using âtransferenceâ to protect and maintain what is essentially a destructive power dynamic
3. Money wasted on bad memories âdug up about which nothing can be doneâ
4. Being told you are incurably ill and hopelessly broken from someone with something to gain
5. Forced to cope with abandonment from boundaries âsuddenly put up by a previously accepting therapistâ
6. That most therapists are egomaniacs
7. That most therapists like having power over vulnerable people for all the wrong reasons which DEFINITELY âtakes a certain level of arrogance to think that wayâ.
Thank you maedhbh for saying it all.
And I forgot to mention how IFS uses curiosity in untangling the complexity of the mind rather than shutting it down with drugs or other narrow-minded âtherapeuticâ methods.
Yes! Psychiatryâs continuous diagnostic rambling is enough to drive anyone batty.
And because pharmaceutical companies are greedy â
So whatâs the point of âtalk therapyâ?
Pictures speak louder than words.
Thank you for agreeing with me, Someone Else. I just hope the world is finally ready to listen to something thatâs long overdue.
Terry,
I just visited your website (healingtheself.net) and am glad I did. Itâs thorough without being exhaustive and accessible without being simplistic, something essential in an area as broad as mental health. Your âPerspectivesâ section is particularly illuminating as it includes the most relevant topics: âThe Spectrum of Traumaâ, âBreaking the Trauma Cycleâ, âWestern Medicineâ, and âInternal Family Systems (IFS)â. Itâs important you placed these topics together as these are all interconnected, and connecting the dots is something too few people are doing. And the quotes youâve chosen are brilliant.
Thank you for devoting your life to something so important and central to what truly matters. I wish you the best in your new vocation.
Birdsong
My anger at psychiatry ultimately lead to my leaving psychiatryâand in that way anger proved valuable.
Dear Terry,
Thank you for saying everything that needs to be said about a non-pathologizing approach to psychic distress. You succeed in making the complicated understandable in a beautifully cogent way.
I appreciate your explaining in detail how Internal Family Systems parts-centric approach acknowledges not only the impact of the subconscious, but also âthe notion of the Selfâ and how respecting that Self, oneâs âtrue essenceâ or innate dignity, is central to the healing process, i.e., âbecoming wholeâ. And I especially appreciate your mentioning how psychiatry is âlocked into a paradigm of neurotransmitters and genetics, [that] misses whatâs right in front of its face, and turns a blind eye to mountains of evidence supporting the role of environmental distressâi.e., traumaâin mental health.â Your ideas are SPOT ON.
I too believe âa revolution is brewing with respect to mental health treatment in our cultureâ, but more strongly I hope âthe beauty of IFSâ will be at the forefront thisâand perhaps eventually of life itself.
Psychiatry isnât about humility, itâs about disconnection and judgment; itâs a psychological cancer that affects all of society.
Imo, psychiatry is nothing more than an absurd gallery of pseudoscientific diagnoses whose DSM represents one gargantuan psychological autoimmune âdisorderâ.
Itâs too bad psychiatry canât diagnose its own own pathological tendency to diagnose and label everything under the sun.
In contrast, Internal Family Systems is a path towards true healing, as itâs based on compassion and common sense.
Psychiatry isnât about listening, itâs about imposing pseudoscientific beliefs on others.
And most of the time people are âdiagnosedâ before theyâve even uttered a wordâand most of the time their goose is cooked if the doctor doesnât like them.
Never underestimate the power of the internet, and M.IA. is a good place to start.
Correction: DIDDLY-SQUAT
You canât talk yourself into forgivingâit has to be feltâsomething I suspect Decartes knew diddly about.
And psychiatry is neither intuitive NOR thoughtfulâbut it IS emotional nitpicking – –
CORRECTION: Healthy forgiveness isnât about inducing shame through emotional power plays.
Imho, healthy forgiveness isnât about inflicting guilt through emotional power plays.
And I think itâs more important to forgive oneself for not wanting to forgive those who have hurt us.
I also bet Decartes, like most of todayâs psychiatrists and psychologists, was secretly one angry dudeâand Heaven knows thereâs nothing more destructive than unacknowledged angerâwhich I think is the foundation of all of psychiatry and most of psychology.
And thereâs nothing wrong with anger; itâs one of most instructive and protective emotions anyone can haveâif dealt with authentically.
Thereâs nothing objective about psychiatry; it sees people through a psychologically distorted lens.
Dear Dr. Ophir,
Thereâs now a fighting chanceâthanks to people like youâfor which Iâm eternally grateful.
And as word of your book gets out among the general public, I seriously believe youâll find way more allies than foes.
Thank you for fighting the good fight, Dr. Ophir. I wish you all the best from now on in your truth-telling quest.
Birdsong
Rasx,
Thank you for the wonderful quote from Heidegger:
ââŠthere are thoughtless emotions but no emotionless thoughtsâŠâ
I think CBT is an exceptionally thoughtless approach. And how do I know this? UmmmâŠIâm not sureâŠI just had a feeling.âŠ
Thank you for thoroughly explaining the true nature of healthy forgiveness and questioning its value when itâs used to control people.
Yet another attempt by the âmental health industryâ to psychiatrize every culture with its tone-deaf heavy-handedness.
Thank you for an outstanding article.
Itâs heartening to know that Dr. Ophirâs book is receiving such positive scholarly reviews. I hope his bravery encourages others like him to speak out against the institutional gaslighting not only surrounding ADHD, but all the other scientifically baseless âdiagnosesâ that constitute the fallacious field of psychiatry. And I sincerely believe itâs only a matter of time before it collapses from the weight of its own lies.
ericwsetz says, âThe first step is a willingness to be there with the patient and understand what they are saying.â
Which just happens to be the basis of ANY healthy relationship, and most importantly needs to starts with the first: with oneâs parents/caregivers in childhood
ericwsetz says, âPatients are not out of their minds they are too deep in it.â
Yes! And itâs not just psychiatry â âpsychotherapyâ often sets up its own convoluted âclinicalâ traps for people needing to get OUT of their heads â
CORRECTION: Decartesâ way of thinking always struck me as pretty ONE-SIDED â which has turned out to be a detriment to humanity, imho.
So-called âmental health awarenessâ in schools is about as helpful as an infestation of head liceâpsychological head lice, that is. They are no longer places to learn and be educated, they are places to be labeled and âmedicatedâ.
And children often live up to a teacherâs worst expectations.
And for what itâs worth, Descartesâ way of thinking always struck me as pretty narrow-mindedâand I bet he was an egomaniac to boot!
Psychological issues donât belong in a medical textbook.
Making value judgments based on forgiveness is not conducive to the healing process; itâs an entirely personal matter that canât be dictated.
People forgive in their own time and in their own way, if at allâand whether or not thatâs good or bad is for them alone to decide.
Rebel,
Please note: nowhere did I claim that âforgiveness is impossibleâ â I said forgiveness is SOMETIMES impossible.
And I respectfully find your attitude towards a lack of forgiveness to beâfor lack of a better wordâunforgiving.
CORRECTION: âThat explains psychiatryâs main flaw: it refuses to see âSYMPTOMSâ in context.