Thomas Szasz Takes on His Critics: Is mental illness an insane idea?

Reason ^ | May 2005 | Jacob Sullum

[Rembrandt_fan]

No doubt some mental health care 'experts' rely solely upon pharmaceutical solutions as a panacea for all things, and I agree that children, especially, would do better without regular infusions of powerful, mind-altering drugs, but--again--I draw upon my own experience: I was very, very sick, and now I'm not. Anecdotal? I guess. I'm not trying to convince, since I have little knowledge of the topic outside my experience and that of my family, and you sound like someone who deals with this sort of thing on a daily basis, so persuading you of the validity of psychiatry is a doomed effort, more or less. There is a medical, scientific basis for what I went through--a chemical imbalance of the brain. It wasn't because I was potty trained at gunpoint. To be sure, there are a lot of quacks playing doctor out there; there always have been. I was fortunate to find one who knows what he is doing.

[Nucluside]

If you were very, very sick and now you are not, it is great! The psychiatrists I have dealt with (for the most part) who I have problems with are those who dope patients up so much that they can't deal with their problems; I strongly believe they do this so that THEY won't have to deal with the patients' problems. I am aware that there are chemical imbalances that can cause various emotional behaviors, but for a while and even now some believe such imbalances are the cause of ALL mental disorders.
Again, it is wonderful that you are well!
I too, BTW, admire impressionistic painting.