Psychiatry is pseudoscience

last edited 2024-11-05

The field of psychiatry and the concept of mental illness and sanity as used in the field function primarily as society's way of portraying what it disapproves of to be *scientifically* bad, to make their value judgements appear to be above dispute.

Consider this example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppositional_defiant_disorder

So ODD is basically when you defy authority. How is this a "disorder"? There is nothing objectively wrong about the described behaviors. It's not an illness. It's not a "disorder". It's a set of behaviors that society disapproves of.

Or what about autism?

(I had linked a CDC article that I'm going to quote but it's been removed; whatever, I'm not going to change this section.)

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability

As a person diagnosed as autistic, fuck you. I'm not disabled and don't have a "disorder". A core symptom my psychiatrist told me is that autistic people are "logical", that they don't like nonsensical figures of speech such as insincere uses of "really?" to respond to a surprising statement or social customs without a meaning, such as greetings. I'm proud of that! That particular claimed symptom isn't listed on this page, but let's look at some that are:

* be very interested in people, but not know how to talk, play, or relate to them

* have trouble expressing their needs using typical words or motions

Could it be that their native language and culture are stacked against people who don't fit the mold they're supposed to and make it difficult for them to express themselves? English vocabulary for expressing feelings is garbage; most of the emotion words don't have any agreed-on meaning and many feelings don't have an easy way to express them. This is a bigger problem if you care about expressing your feelings appropriately and understanding yourself, as a philosopher does, than if you don't.

As for my personal case, I have difficulty socializing because I didn't do it nearly enough as a child. I was basically trapped inside for my first 20 years with no contact outside the family. I'm getting better at it now that I can practice.

* not play "pretend" games (for example, not pretend to "feed" a doll)

Not being interested in a specific kind of recreation also isn't objectively bad. This is a value judgement, and a wrong one.

* prefer not to be held or cuddled, or might cuddle only when they want to

Another bullshit value judgement passed off as medicine.

You can find a lot more examples. Most diagnoses of behavioral "disorders" are value judgements.

Part of the reason this is so important is that mental "illness" is widely used as an excuse to imprison innocent people:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Involuntary_commitment

(fuck that euphemism, by the way) or to otherwise deprive them of rights (prohibiting people from owning weapons or accessing transgender health care). In fact, why not have a long list of it being used by governments to oppress people:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_abuse_of_psychiatry