This book is a sincerely felt attempt to add to the literature about the
abuse of psychiatry. Thomas Szasz has probably been the major voice in this
movement for the last forty years or so. More recently Peter Breggin has added
his powerful concerns. Both have built on the earlier insights of Michel
Foucault. John Breeding is a clinical psychologist and his book is an
idiosyncratic but nonetheless valuable addition to this tradition.

In many ways the book is a collection of essays about different aspects
of psychiatry’s abuse of its position. However, the author would like the
reader to be aware of a central position around which the chapters or ‘essays’
are grouped. That position is made up of several strands. Firstly, the author
argues against a reductionist view of human nature. Although he does not use
that precise technical term, he is constantly attacking those who view human
beings purely as organic mechanisms. This reviewer is in wholehearted agreement
with him that psychiatrists often seem to resort to the use of drugs or
electro-convulsive therapy to treat deep-seated psychological problems which
have their roots either in the pain and suffering that people have received at
the hands of others or in the pain and suffering that they have inflicted on
others. Either way can lead to trauma but such a psychological state is not a
‘disease’. Secondly, the author argues that this psychological pain can not be
treated as though it were a case of appendicitis. An appendectomy is the
appropriate treatment for a diseased appendix. A lobotomy or any other physical
treatment is totally inappropriate for a psychological problem. Thirdly, and
this is where the title of the book is relevant, the author argues that the only
way out of these psychological problems is by long term therapy and this will
entail facing up to the causes of the trauma. This will almost always involve
pain and it is the expressions of this pain that reductionist psychiatrists
call ‘mental illness’ or ‘madness’. The author argues that far from being an
illness, these expressions of pain are a necessary stage along the road to
self-acceptance. Fourthly, he argues that human beings are complex creatures
with a profoundly spiritual side to them. If we fail to get in touch with this
spiritual side, then not only do we deny a vital aspect of our humanity but we
also run the risk of dehumanizing others as so many psychiatrists have done
during the Nazi period in Germany and during the eugenic movement in the States
and elsewhere. Sadly, as the author points out, many psychiatrists are still
behaving in the same way and his discussion of why they do so is quite
interesting. Basically his argument is that they are in thrall to our
materialist and ultra-capitalist society. He gives two supporting reasons for
this point of view. The first is that in a materialist capitalist society only
the producer-consumer is of use. Anyone who is being unproductive is not
contributing to the gross product and must therefore be brought back into
productive mode as quickly as possible. If that is not possible, then they must
be psychologically neutered i.e. reduced to near vegetable status so that
everyone else can see why they are non-productive. The second is that
psychiatrists are well paid by Medicare to inflict ECT and by the drug
companies to prescribe their products. Since the psychiatrists in question are
materialist/reductionist in their view of human nature, there is nothing to
stop them accepting money to brain damage their patients by ECT or reduce them
to a zombie state with drugs.

The author uses case studies of clients whom he has tried to help to
illustrate the dilemma for those people undergoing profound pain and suffering
as a result of terrible experiences. Psychiatrists are often in positions of
great power and authority. Clinical psychologists and therapists are usually
less powerful. The author obviously feels intensely frustrated that he is often
unable to help a client in the face of institutional psychiatry. Several of the
case studies he shares with us are very moving. Also very moving is his use of
the Native American legend of the Peacemaker as a parable for how a deeply
damaged person can be helped to regain her/his humanity and dignity.

The book has a working bibliography, a good set of endnotes and two
appendices the first of which, on ECT by Dr. Moira Dolan, is particularly
useful. There are also details of organizations which people can join —
organizations which help the survivors of psychiatric abuse and organizations
which are campaigning to end ECT and drug treatment of those suffering from
psychological pain. This book is a very personal approach to the problem of
psychiatric abuse but it is nonetheless both eloquent and effective.

Link: ChipmunkaPublishing

© 2005
Kevin M. Purday

Kevin
Purday works at The Modern English School, Cairo, Egypt, and has a Master’s
degree in the Philosophy &
Ethics of Mental Health from the Philosophy Dept. at the University of Warwick.

Categories: Psychology, Philosophical