(Posted on UKResident in 2004)

I do not know much about the science of mental diseases. There is psychology as well as psychiatry.

Can the practitioners of these arts really pretend to have deep knowledge of what they are professing?

Does obsession with sex really dominate majority of human actions, desires, and motives?

Many times, have I read the considered views of learned professionals in these fields, on many themes connected to human reactions to malevolent social signals and circumstances. And I was at times been impressed by the shallowness of the understandings, of these persons. They seem to try to fit many mental moods into narrow, pre-defined terminologies, like that of obsession, paranoia, mania, complexes, depression, phobia etc.

Once, one person who was a clerk in a hospital, in a mood of deep contemplation, told me that patients used to come to the hospital in a healthy mood, and within one or two weeks of in-house medication, they would be taken home with a vague look, that signified a sense of loss of perception.

One of the things that I feel is that human being do react to anomalous signals; actually they have to do it. For, they are human beings.

Earlier times, Chloral hydrate was a psychiatric medicine, now it is banned. There was a time when lobotomy (scraping parts of the lobes of the brain) was a standard practice, now it is banned.

Medical practitioners, who are acquaintances, tell me not to discuss psychiatry. They themselves get disturbed.

I heard a talk by a psychiatrist, wherein he declared that Electric shock treatment (the endearing medical terminology is “electrotherapy” or “electro-convulsive therapy”) is the most cost effective of all psychiatric treatment. When I talked to Doctors about it, I had a feeling that they were not very happy to debate about it.

It seems that it is a very traumatic experience to the patient, and the treatment is meted out regardless of the person’s aversion to the mode of treatment. I do feel that this very factor makes it a crime, for the fact remains that the minimum right to treat a person, comes from that very person conceding to it.

I was told that the patient goes into convulsions, and becomes unconscious, with a deep, heavy groan/scream.

Persons who are taken to hospitals at times turn violent. But then, generally perfectly sane persons are supposed to react will violence, when unacceptable persons manhandle them.

In many cases, a person reacts in a disturbed manner, when the environment around him is malevolent. This may be taken as the persons around him, including his family members. And these very persons generally have the say in institutionalising him.

And, generally there is an element of mental disturbance, encrypted in feudal languages, aimed at persons who try to display any amount of individualism, or rectitude. I have seen this happen. And I have seen the psychologists coming out with creepy smiles and mediocre understanding, to stigmatise the person with an apt terminology that exists in their books.

Do the doctors really know about the medicines that they are giving? I was once told that their legitimacy rises from the fact that it is prescribed in the textbooks.

I conclude with a quotation (I do not know much about Dr.Szasz):

QUOTE

Mental illness is not a disease; it is a myth. Madness is not diagnosed; it is manufactured. Psychiatry is not the science of ‘the unconscious; it is the theology of medicine. Psychiatrists- from Sigmund Freud to Karl Menninger- are not beneficent healers who treat patients; they are base rhetoricians who trample rights, stigmatising others by placing them in a position of institutionalised helplessness.-Thomas S. Szasz. MD Psychiatry

http://www.szasz.com/

Continued:

gideon2000uk

QUOTE

especially when you look at the narroweness of some fo the research and the lack of depth in our understanding of the brain.

Actually, I do believe that human thoughts, reactions, and many connected items do have some level of connection with external inputs; like one may say, software inputs, in a computer.

I can’t say for sure, what it is; but then, when I went on to the conclusions of my book on languages, it did reach a stage, wherein I stumbled onto an understanding of how, in feudal languages, a person’s attributes spread over the mind of many persons in the social system, in accordance with the level of words ascribed to him. And thus acquires a force that can either propel him to heights or strangle him to submission. There was a level of telepathic effect in this, but it was with very material reasons. But beyond that I found that this affect does linger on a person, wherever he goes, even if there is no one to introduce his attributes. As a sort of aura.

Apart from this feeling, I did feel from my life experiences that at times, a person can be unduly influenced by external signals or inputs. I do not know its source; but I have seen incidences and phenomena that really make me feel that if the modern mental sciences are regarding such themes as utter nonsense, then they might be making a severe mistake.

Continued:

Quote: Sunflowers

Quite frankly, I think Freud’s theories say more about Freud than about his patients

I have not read much what Freud has written; so I can’t comment much about it. But from the general understandings about the mediocre levels at which certain psycho-doctors function, I think I can possibly agree with Sunflowers.

Quote: Sunflowers

QUOTE

Depression is not just “feeling sorry for yourself”, it’s a horrible condition which I would not wish on anyone.

I think many so-called depressions can be cured by a string of boisterous games, or jogging and such other activities that can both exhilarate physical well being, and also keep one away from negative thoughts.

I do not claim any knowledge in mental sciences; yet, I feel that there is something like what can be called ‘folders’ similar to folders in a computer. And each folder can have files with some level of connections.

Thoughts that resonate with any file or its contents can open them. And once opened, it can be a sort of opening the ‘dam’ of thoughts; in the whole folder.

Many things can ignite these thoughts: words, scenes, experiences, images, living conditions etc.

Similarly it might be good to avoid persons who taunt, and allusions to persons and events, which disturb the mind.

Possibly because I feel that human mind is functioning as a sort of series of computer like programs, it is possible that the vibes from certain persons can disturb.

One of the best things that can cure depression, I feel, is to be in living conditions that are likable. And with persons who are of non-competing mental moods.

But beyond all that I do feel that there are external signals, that can access the mind, like that of the signals that enter a mobile phone, that can really take control of the mind. The source, I do not know.

And, as an unqualified suggestion, I would say: identify the source that creates the havoc in your mind. In most cases, it might be a person. Yes, a living person, with inimical interests.

And in professional advice, at least some of them do have the interests of the livelihood of the consultants.

I do not want to decry modern medicine, which I think can be seen apart from the Mental Sciences. I have been impressed by allopathic medicine. But I would like to say that the system of medicine known as Homeopathy does have singular effects, which in many cases are very surprising. And in the case of mental trauma, I think it does have answers, with negligible or no side effects.

Continued:

QUOTE

I’m much more emotionally stable.

What are impressive are your clarity of thoughts, and the powers of expression. Could it be that you have certain qualities that have not been properly utilised, and not adequately understood by others.

I would not dare to say that this is caused by this and the other is caused by another reason. There could be a lot of events and circumstances that could bring in a confused mental state. And it might just be matter of pressing the refresh button, to get the entangled software back to normalcy. But where is the refresh button?

As much as I do not want to say this, I can’t stop myself. It is about my certain feelings. I feel that at times, certain person’s lives do get externally influenced. Sometimes one such person can induce disturbance in others. Now, I really fear to go on.

I am not aiming to spread superstition.

If these external influences are true, how does one do anything about it? Science doesn’t have the answer, nor is it properly equipped to evaluate it (as yet).

The arena is that of the superior software that are not in the control of present day human sciences. What is required is a master software technician who can manipulate at that level. Maybe a medium may be able to help.

And another thing is meditation (not necessarily to god, or to any celestial being) could help tremendously.

QUOTE

My depression started when I had my first child back in 1973

This is not a rare event.

Continued:

Quote: Ved

I think many so-called depressions can be cured by a string of boisterous games, or jogging and such other activities that can both exhilarate physical well being, and also keep one away from negative thoughts.

Quote: Ved

One of the best things that can cure depression, I feel, is to be in living conditions that are likable. And with persons who are of non-competing mental moods.

I find it interesting the British Scientist have found that physical excercise is one of the best ways to treat depression. Many other features of modern mental sciences may need urgent re-evaluation. It seems to have currently become a nonsensical means of livlihood for irresponsible persons.

One such example was Hemingway who committed suicide after being subjected to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) (Shock Treatment) for depression.

QUOTE Wikipedia

Hemingway himself blamed the ECT treatments for “putting him out of business” by destroying his memory.