Was psychiatry designed to heal, or manipulate?

[Deleted member 26067]

The details of early psychiatry are somewhat primitive and shrouded in mystery, not to mention tainted by early man's insistence upon spiritual and demonic possession being the culprit for every ailment under the sun. At some point it became regarded as a legitimate profession and supposed method of healing.

Today, psychiatry and its cousin general medicine bear little resemblance to their original form, having been usurped by big business and corrupt industry as both a profit spinner and exploitation device, and warped by avarice into a twisted, farcical sham. Doctors exist only to shill drugs for pharmaceutical giants and look at patients as commodities to hoodwink and plunder for money in the form of medical bills. The Hippocratic Oath is long dead and forgotten; a mere formality reduced to a platitude posted upon a plaque. Modern psychiatrists exist for similar reasons but also to steer minds towards society's acceptable parameters of thinking.

That said, I wonder if it originally began as a genuine method of healing a person, or was it always conceived with the intent of control and manipulation?

Thoughts?

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

My cynical answer is that it was designed as a form of compartmentalization to drug people until they stop being a nuisance or inconvenience to those around them...

 

[Deleted member 26067]

My cynical answer is that it was designed as a form of compartmentalization to drug people until they stop being a nuisance or inconvenience to those around them...

A fair answer, and I'm inclined to agree. The state has always been strongly inclined to either remove or "rehabilitate" those who don't agree with their thinking.

 

[stygal]

It's an interesting question.
The early stages of psychiatry (just like the early stages of medicine) were probably more "trial and error" than anything else (looking at the history of lobotomies for example).

Plus as you stated always (then and now) intended to bring the patient back into the rails of societal norms.

I personally don't really see it as either black or white. It's part of the system driven by the need to make as much economic profit as possible -that's true - yet besides medication there are types of therapy (EMDR, hypnosis, some behavioral therapies) that might actually help an individual that suffers on the basis of an (acute) traumatic event and is not able to apply any form of self-help anymore as the limbic system needs to get out of the state of being overly stimulated first (if possible).
So I have no problems with psychological therapy there - when applied properly and in states of emergency.
Normal psychoanalysis in the form of talk therapy on the other hand I find strange (manipulative) and not helpful at all (having personal experiences myself).
There was (is) an interesting movement out there - questioning psychiatry as a whole: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-psychiatry

 

[Deleted member 26067]

It's an interesting question.
The early stages of psychiatry (just like the early stages of medicine) were probably more "trial and error" than anything else (looking at the history of lobotomies for example).

Plus as you stated always (then and now) intended to bring the patient back into the rails of societal norms.

I personally don't really see it as either black or white. It's part of the system driven by the need to make as much economic profit as possible -that's true - yet besides medication there are types of therapy (EMDR, hypnosis, some behavioral therapies) that might actually help an individual that suffers on the basis of an (acute) traumatic event and is not able to apply any form of self-help anymore as the limbic system needs to get out of the state of being overly stimulated first (if possible).
So I have no problems with psychological therapy there - when applied properly and in states of emergency.
Normal psychoanalysis in the form of talk therapy on the other hand I find strange (manipulative) and not helpful at all (having personal experiences myself).
There was (is) an interesting movement out there - questioning psychiatry as a whole: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-psychiatry

I think if it were used properly and not with an eye towards profit and social engineering, it could do great good.

The sad thing is that humans only see such things as tools to manipulate or profit from. It has been perverted from its original benign purpose into yet another corrupt industry.

I find basic psychiatry a useful tool for if nothing else, understanding others' motivations and predicting possible future actions.