Psychiatry/ Healing Arts/ Spiritual work

"If madness isn’t what biopsychiatry says it is, what is it? If we don’t agree with what biopsychiatry says, then we probably don’t agree with the treatment practices. For us to have some kind of intelligible answer to a first-year psychiatry intern who can tell you: it’s a brain disorder and every minute that it’s not being medicated, there’s irreparable damage being done. The people who fund the research are the big phama companies that psychiatry represents. A psychiatrist now can see 30-40 clients a day. Psychiatry says: this group of Icarus folks can sing Kumbaya all you want, but we own it. I don’t believe that."
(not sure of author)

Comment:

The fast paced nature of the modern American lifestyle leaves little time or space for introspection and self reflection. If a young person is given a diagnosis, he or she has little recourse but to believe in the diagnosis and trust the authority figures that tell him or her that their brains are poorly wired for life. This cannot continue at the rate it has been going without serious inquiry into origins of behavioral disturbances. There are too many factors other than brain chemistry to make simple conclusions. Since the 1990s there is a grave tendency to pathologize the actions of children and young adults who do not seem to conform to the rhythms and expectations of their schools, jobs and homes. They may be wired differently from other students but is this acting out a result of bad brain wiring, a learning disability or emotions that have not been processed, and energy that needs a focused outlet? These are just a few suggestions of what the behavior could stem from. The hyper active child might be "hyper intelligent" both in regard to emotions and other areas of life they are perceiving. The withdrawn, sullen child might be repressing feelings from a time he or she wishes to forget, or repressing a disturbing reality inside resulting from a highly active imagination stimulated by the toxic environment we all currently live in. With children all over the world being exposed to higher levels of toxins in their food year after year, and poisonous cultural messages that create the climate for suicidal feelings, how can we expect complacent, "good" behavior from them?




to be continued...