Inadequacy of psychiatry

Lack of diversity in psychiatry
Recreational psychiatry
Recreational therapy
Inadequacy of psychiatrists
Psychobabble
Lack of concensus among psychiatrists
Inept testimony of psychologists and psychiatrists

Nature

The lack of evidence for efficacy despite considerable research, the real possibility of harm, and the high cost all make long-term dynamic psychotherapy unlikely to be a preferred option of any health service. Such therapy in which patients explore past and present relationships with therapists has been shown by research to be no better than routine clinical care, is more expensive and can carry greater risks. It is no more effective in helping people recover from depression or solve problems than an occasional chat with a doctor or advice from a friend.

Incidence

Professional psychologists and psychiatrists do not in fact make more accurate clinical judgements than lay persons about the sanity or propensity toward violence of criminal suspects on trial. In both prediction and diagnosis lay people are as accurate as clinicians. In court cases their testimony is treated as fact. Their opinions are sought by news people, writers, governments, entertainers, courts and the public at the expense of personal judgement.

A study of the American Psychiatric Association found that physicians with affective disorders tend to select psychiatry as a specialty. Disfunctional, abusive and alcoholic family backgrounds were also more prevalent among mental health professionals than other health workers.

Claim

Psychotherapy as a discipline is corrupt, is a waste of money and not infrequently causes a great deal of harm. The relationship between the therapist and the patient is one of power and weakness; power corrupts. Even when the therapist is well meaning, let alone when they are sadistic, they assert their own, normally conservative values on the patient. Patients are not infrequently sexually abused and mentally battered and on at least one occasion beaten to death.

Freud was a suspicious, neurotic agoraphobic with an occasional cocaine habit. He placed the advancement of knowledge before the cure of a patient. His most celebrated case of "Dora" lends itself to the re-interpretation of Dora being a healthy, much-wronged young woman and Freud being a prejudiced chauvinist. Jung was a racist, collaborated with the Nazis and exploited women patients.

Counter-claim

Most therapies are equally effective and better than placebo.

Therapists who have suffered or are inadequate in certain ways may be the very best therapists. For example, people who have suffered with an addictive illness are often drawn to helping other people with addictive illness. It is incredibly beneficial if you have a trained professional with long-term stability who is in recovery.