What is your opinion of the field of psychiatry?

I’m living proof that it works.

The Scientologists are criticizing something?

If Cruise is dissing psychiatry, that’s pretty much proof positive that psychiatry works.

Yes of course a scientologist is the one I want advising me on pseudoscience and the validity of psychiatry.

Psychiatry at least makes an honest attempt to understand the human mind which is more than can be said for scientology.

I have no respect for the opinions of Scientologists (I know some personally), but my feeling about psychiatry are mixed.

My ex was bipolar and wanted pills. She finds doctors who give her lots of pills.

I was concerned that her diet of sugary fruit yogurt and cigarettes, and her lack of physical activity should be addressed; that a moderate level of fitness would be a good baseline before experimenting with an ever-changing lineup of drugs.

The doctor said, “Yes diet is important. She should eat a little protein, like a bite of chicken, with her prescriptions.” Literally, that was her entire response to my concern.

I know psychoactive drugs can work. I took anti-depressants for a short time twenty years ago, and they helped me.

But the experience with my wife made me extremely wary of psychiatrists. I really felt her doctor’s goal was getting that weekly check, and keeping my wife unbalanced was like an annuity.

Cruise is a moron. The sole fact that he is a Scientologist proves it.

@Call_Me_Jay It seems to me that some of these medications are being abused. I think once they are used in the correct controlled circumstances they can be very beneficial for many.

I work in a pharmacy myself and I see so many people self-medicating asking for this that and the other. Many of these people are not educated enough about the drugs they request for. Luckily the health board in Ireland (HSE) has very strict guidelines on what is classed as OTC and prescription. For example you cannot purchase any antibiotic without a prescription. I know this is obviously not the same thing as anti-depressents, but I think more cautious medical guidelines to help a lot.

People need to stop self-medicating so much and doctors need to stop giving out prescriptions so easily. Part of this has to do with doctors running their practice too much like a business. They are treating patients like marketing tools. Its a problem.

@flutherother

Scientologists have a understanding of the human mind.

Unfortunately it is limited to the gullibility centers of the brain.

I view anyone that jumps up and down on a couch like a raving 4 year old during an interview on live TV as not a reliable source of anything regarding mental health. Rock climbing or zooming around on motorcycles…Cruise is your guy.

Psychiatrists seem to like to prescribe meds like so many doctors do. I do think sometimes the meds are a Godsend. I have seen medications really help some people. I think sometimes they are prescribed too fast before trying something else, and I also think some have negative side effects that are ignored.

I have mixed feelings about the psych field. I have had therapists who have definitely helped me. I also know therapists who are destructive and horrible. I use therapists as a broad word to mean anything from MSW, psychologist, or psychiatrist.

1. FUCK scientology
2. Psych Meds are over prescribed
3. Out of all medical science I question psychiatry the most. Exception: chiropractors. They have little to do with medical science and should not even exist.
4. I would go to a psychiatrist if I needed to.
5. Psychologists may help some but have never helped me. I regard both psychology and psychiatry as “soft science” but still valid.

In the country that I am from, to become a Psychiatrist, you first become a medical Doctor. Then you study medicine and its effects on the brain. Along with Psychology. So, in other words, just as a regular Doctor goes on to become a specialist, so does the Psychiatrist follow the same path.

Having a major in Psychology, I realized that as a subject, it is one of the most complex sciences. Two years is spent learning statistics, that is, measurable data equaling qualitative and quantitative results. The interplay of society, man in context, both in the macrocosm and microcosm of life is so important. As well as cultural influences. What is wrong in one culture may not be in another. In other words, a diagnosis is never made on a presenting symptom but more on the basis of a life-time of symptoms, or lack thereof, plus, stressors in the person’s life before and after the symptoms appeared. (Just to simplify). Often it can also be like any physical illness diagnosed on response to certain drugs.

Diagnoses are also made on many axes,(axis), where interplays of personality disorders influencing mental illnesses and vice versa.

So no, it is not a soft science, it is a rather complex one. However, like all sciences, it is constantly being updated.

The shit part is when you get NHS Psychiatrist handing out lithium for e.g. as a cure-all. Plus a tired and bored attitude to their job. Or even worse, a Psychologist that falls asleep while you are talking to her. (My experience). In that way, they are a bunch of quacks.

Scientology let’s not forget was invented by a fantasy writer and their biggest and highest branch is sea org. There is of course, no sea involved. I call Narcissism and psychopathic tendencies in David Miscavige.

Some very good and wise people swear by it. As a nurse, I worked on both private and public psychiatric units. Because I’m big, I was usually put on crisis units, but I transfered to regular therapy units now and then when they were short of staff. I wasn’t impressed by the doctors. Most of them were not very enthusiastic about their work. I think psych people burn out early.

With schitzophrenics, I saw amazing improvement due to some new psychotropic drugs, but that was about it. Kids with severe personality disorders complicated by drug addiction showed no improvement that I could descern and many were frequent fliers. They faked improvement, cheated on urine tests—successfully until I figured out how they were doing it—and did whatever they needed to do to get back on the streets. Soon, they would be back under court order, sometimes in handcuffs or other types of restraint, or so messed up that they would turn themselves back in.

I saw very little improvement among the patients. Most, both kids and adults, were drug seeking. Some of the doctors, and many of the psychologists, were crazier than their patients, in my opinion.

I don’t have a lot faith in that particular “science”.

Probably saved my life. Everyday it saves my life.

I am a Hawaii Certified Peer Specialist in mental health. I train my peers who pass the screening to be HCPS. A peer means I receive mental health care myself. I am in recovery from a mental illness. My recovery is supported by medication, meditation, therapy, exercise, and sleep.

I get the medication from a psychiatrist. I’m very lucky in that I work at a state job, so I have superb insurance. Our system in the US is flawed in that the type of insurance determines the quality of your care. I’m also lucky in that my state job gives me access to the highest quality doctors. I psychiatrist is thoughtful and cautious. He listens to me closely.

I was diagnosed with a mental illness in 2001. I probably had it for all of my adult life, but I masked it with alcoholism (17 years sober). I was given a cocktail of meds. We made adjustments over time. Over the past 16 years, I’ve taken quite a number of different meds. Three years ago, we found a single med that works very well for me, and I’ve been amazingly stable since that time. I have returned to work.

The meds work for me, and I’m happy to take them. I have friends who do not take any meds, and yet they remain stable and work. It’s different for each individual. The key is vigilance. We peers must all remain watchful of ourselves to guard against relapse into symptoms.

Medical science is not perfect. Psychiatry is often looked down on by the other hard science areas of medicine. Most areas of medical science can order a test of some type to determine an illness. Psychiatry has to rely on observation and self-reporting. They are subjective. Still, they rely on a great deal of careful research.

The other supports I use are just as vital to my recovery. Meditation gives great satisfaction. It gives me a calm center, and when I stray from it, I know to return. Therapy is a godsend for me. I’ve been in regular therapy for 30 years. I really like my current psychologist. I need to be able to talk to a disinterested third party about everything that’s going on in my life. He guides me so that I can decide for myself what I think about situations. Exercise is important for me. It helps keep all my insides working correctly. And sleep is vastly underrated as to its healing qualities. Good sleep resets all my circuits, as it were. I wake up every morning ready for a new day.

Recovery from mental illness is possible. I recovered. And recovery is for everyone.

As a counterpoint to my earlier negative anecdote, and an illustration of my very mixed feelings and experience…

Maria Bamford is a comedian who was nearly ended by mental illness. She credits her recovery to medications, and works the difficulties into her routine.

I’ve watched her for years, I love her work, and this weekend I spent a couple of hours surfing for Maria Bamford videos.

This interview is a great introduction.

CBC Studio Q
“Strikingly original stand-up comic Maria Bamford joins guest host Tom Power to talk about finding the humour in the dark subject matter, including mental illness and suicide.”