Mindless psychiatry and dubious ethics

Abstract

Psychiatry all around the world is seen as a specialized branch of medicine. Mental disorders are seen in organic terms and are treated like any other forms of physical disease--with drugs and other forms of organic interventions. This paper argues that the medical model, despite its popularity and continued usage is, to a large extent, unreliable and invalid. Although the present model of psychiatry is in need of an urgent 'paradigm shift', it still continues to exercise immense power and popularity over other approaches to mental illness. The reasons for its popularity and power are analysed and interpreted in historical, scientific, social, economic, and socio-political terms. The practice of psychiatry raises a variety of deep-rooted conceptual and applied issues, particularly those related to the definition and diagnoses of mental illness, treatment procedures, and the ethical practices within psychiatry. It is argued that the need to pathologise every form of mental aberration will be counter-productive in the future. Should this trend remain unchecked it will eventually stifle all forms of scientific, literary, and artistic development.