Wednesday 7 August 2013

Psychiatry and Anti-Psychiatry

It's the summer holidays so I think I should get double points for any intelligent thought at the moment!

Luckily there is lots in the media about psychiatry with the publishing of the latest DSM V manual, a couple of articles gave me pause for thought.

In the Guardian review there is a long piece by Will Self, asking what the point of Psychiatry is and criticising Psychiatrists for essentially being state-sponsored drug pushers.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/aug/03/will-self-psychiatrist-drug-medication

It's certainly an interesting article, although not a balanced one. What is equally interesting is the huge number of shares and comments the article has generated since it was published 4 days ago.

 An item that is less controversial and not quite so interesting there is an in the London Review of Books of the manual itself. It's by another non-medic Ian Hacking

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n15/ian-hacking/lost-in-the-forest

It also seems to have generated alot of comment in a short time. The article expands on the idea that really this manual is not for clinicians, as it is virtually inusuable. It's role is largely in the US for bureaucrats to decide how and who to provide medical care to.

Both articles give plenty to think about. It's interesting to compare the message of Will Self's article with Ben Goldacre's Bad Pharma. Both men want clinicians to be more thoughtful in thier prescribing I think. One has the medical back ground the other is well read and educated on the subject but not a prescribing clinican themselves.