tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7554144345180700499.post7435448116185815080..comments2023-09-20T07:35:38.938-04:00Comments on Debbie and Carl: So Says Thomas SzaszDebbie H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02209691050549648880noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7554144345180700499.post-40095606025767065622011-08-07T06:00:16.399-04:002011-08-07T06:00:16.399-04:00I think a psychiatric will is a great idea for all...I think a psychiatric will is a great idea for all voluntaryists. The ideas we advocate are so foreign to most people, that we are sometimes labeled as kooks and crazies. On my road from neo-conservatism to voluntaryism, I had a few discussions with family members who were "concerned about my well being." Now that I have had more time to express my views, I am actually bringing them around to the philosophy. These ideas take time to discuss in full. A knee jerk reaction by a well meaning family member could cause a lot of problems for a voluntaryist who has a hard time expressing their worldview.<br /><br />Having a will in place would be in our best interests.Sgt. Jarheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09252602191980132466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7554144345180700499.post-89990870190634071752011-07-29T13:30:22.473-04:002011-07-29T13:30:22.473-04:00I have a psych degree and have in the past worked ...I have a psych degree and have in the past worked in both drug/alcohol rehab units and in psych units. <br /> <br />Yes, the "disease model" is applied to addiction (to both booze and other drugs) and there are genetic predispositions to addiction and demonstratable, observable changes to the central nervous system to addicts. On the one hand addiction is recognized and treated as a disease, on the other hand, it is treated as a crime. At one time homosexuality was also treated as a disease and as a crime. <br /><br />If one is accused of being 'mentally ill' and someone, for example an ER doctor (who might be an intern who has no psychiatric experience) claims that you are either a danger to yourself or others (and refusing to take your medication can be cited as evidence that you are a danger to yourself), then you can be held on a 72 EDO (emergency detention order). This is Indiana that I'm talking about, but most other states have similar laws. So without any crime, without a defense lawyer, without a judge or jury you or anyone can be held against their will in a locked psych unit. If you try to argue with the staff and say you're not crazy and don't belong there they'll just take that as evidence that you're in denial and discount anything you say because you're 'crazy'. After 72 hours they hold a court hearing (the psych unit I worked in had a court room attached for these hearings) and normally the judge discounts what you have to say and believes the 'experts'. <br /> <br />Most people in psych units are troubled people, or obnoxious people, who are odd or disturbing in someway, who are locked up 'for their own good'. Most have committed no crimes or done any wrong, but they are people, like Dr. Szasz says, who exhibit behavior that we don't want to see.<br /><br />There are also a minority of people in psych units who are criminals who are seeking to play the system by pretending to be 'crazy' (see 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest').<br /><br />People have so absorbed this idea of mental illness that when someone commits some horrendous crime (for example the Arizona shootings of the Congresswoman and others) that people automatically say, he must be crazy, who else would have done such a thing? <br /><br />Dr. Szasz wrote an article about just that: http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/the-therapeutic-state/senseless/Paul Znoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7554144345180700499.post-13744235549725072112011-07-29T11:38:36.750-04:002011-07-29T11:38:36.750-04:00Well that makes sense Paul. So much so that I'...Well that makes sense Paul. So much so that I'm having a "duh" moment right now. Of course that would move things to an organic level. I wonder how that will play out. For example, aren't people now saying that addiction is a real organic disease in the brain? That it's not a fight of the "will" but that there is a real physical problem in the brain.Debbie H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02209691050549648880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7554144345180700499.post-34490502547072200162011-07-29T09:11:21.150-04:002011-07-29T09:11:21.150-04:00You wrote, "...I do wonder how our continuing...You wrote, "...I do wonder how our continuing efforts to learn about the brain will affect Szasz’ theories."<br /><br />Szasz has addressed this. If an organic cause is discovered for something that is now called a "mental illness", then this futher establishes that it was not a "mental" illness, but a physical illness that we did not understand the cause of until the new information came to light.Paul Znoreply@blogger.com