[Dysart]

I don't wish to come off as a poor imitation of Tom Cruise here, but this article argues effectively against the compulsory mass drugging of people suffering from mental illness.

I think it's worth the long read.

[stylin19a]

...when Ronald Duman, a researcher at Yale, showed that antidepressants actually grow brain cells in the hippocampus, a part of the brain associated with memory and mood regulation...

No mention of it, but I wonder if SSRIs have been used in dementia/Alzheimer's patients.

[I see my hands]

"Psychiatrists have been in the forefront of the transformation, eagerly shrugging off the vestiges of talk therapy"

However, they will still be glad to listen if you pay them $400/hr.

[neverdem]

Thanks for posting. Happy New Year!

[sinanju]

Thank you Dysart, most informative, a great overview. I was well aware of the often ghastly treatment of the insane in the Bad Old Days. I found especially interesting the parts about the history of lobotomy, brain imaging (and it’s limitations), thorazine and the SSRI’s.

Yes, it’s been well argued, especially in conservative circles, that the popularity of SSRIs is because insurance companies don’t want to be saddled with psychotherapy expenses. But do recall the horrible insurance abuses of people with gold-plated psych health insurance in the eighties and early nineties—coterminious with the “recovered memory” scam.

p.s. I’m just disappointed that the author did not see fit to update us as to all those wonderful, groundbreaking recent studies showing that liberals are more intelligent than us conservative mouthbreathers and christian fundies.

[redpoll]

Thanks for the interesting article. Just two political comments here, since this is a political forum:

1. I’m always fascinated and pleased that people post scholarly articles such as this one. You simply don’t find that kind of depth of thought over there on the left - I’m thinking about the Daily Kos and Democrat Underground.

2. Considering the concerns outlined in this article - how would the leftist agenda of including mental health services be included in their plans for socialized health care? I have a dark vision of government clinics handing out bottles of pills without a clue about the impact on the patient or society, or even a darker vision of the Cloward-Piven strategy to further burden the government into collapse.

Thanks and have a great 2009.

[Cacique]

Psychiatry is but another arm of the socialist conspiracy to impose it's will and an instrument of control. The article as I scanned it makes no mention of the soviet function of psychiatry as an instrument of state control. As it becomes more aggressively efficient in this respect we will see it's use amplified. The modern state with technology at it's disposal has great potential to exert total dictatorial control over it's citizens. We are headed in that direction.

[TigersEye]

btrl