I still think you're putting words in my mouth, though. I don't call it an "experiment in torture" or a "worthless venture"; that's an extreme extension of what I did say, which is that I think it's prescientific, and that the mental health field presents itself as being more "clean-cut" than it is.
I have to emphasize that I'm speaking as a long-term patient and not a random social critic who has wandered in and started yelling insults. I think you'll find that many of us share this skeptical and critical attitude. Patients don't start out being burned out. We begin the process very hopeful and ready to accept new ideas.
Unfortunately, many mental health practitioners try to project white-coat omnipotence, or are very caught up in their own grand theoretical creations. After six therapists, fifteen different medications, a truckload of books, several specialized diets, one religion, and 18 years of depression, anxiety, and neurotic malfunction I find that air of certainty entirely unjustified.
My current therapist and psychiatrist are both cautious, analytical professionals who understand the need for humility in a very young science. I can't say the same for most of the rest I've encountered.
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Re: TREAD SOFTLY FOR YOU TREAD ON MY DREAMS
Date: 2005-03-03 09:16 am (UTC)I still think you're putting words in my mouth, though. I don't call it an "experiment in torture" or a "worthless venture"; that's an extreme extension of what I did say, which is that I think it's prescientific, and that the mental health field presents itself as being more "clean-cut" than it is.
I have to emphasize that I'm speaking as a long-term patient and not a random social critic who has wandered in and started yelling insults. I think you'll find that many of us share this skeptical and critical attitude. Patients don't start out being burned out. We begin the process very hopeful and ready to accept new ideas.
Unfortunately, many mental health practitioners try to project white-coat omnipotence, or are very caught up in their own grand theoretical creations. After six therapists, fifteen different medications, a truckload of books, several specialized diets, one religion, and 18 years of depression, anxiety, and neurotic malfunction I find that air of certainty entirely unjustified.
My current therapist and psychiatrist are both cautious, analytical professionals who understand the need for humility in a very young science. I can't say the same for most of the rest I've encountered.