Behaviorism and Mental Health

Alternative perspective on psychiatry's so-called mental disorders | PHILIP HICKEY, PH.D.

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Tell Your Story
  • Submit Your Story
  • Moderation Policy

AND FINALLY

April 21, 2022 By Phil Hickey |

With considerable misgivings, I have decided that, due to advancing age and ongoing deterioration in my health, I am no longer able to write posts or respond to comments.

From my personal perspective, I deeply regret having to make this decision.  I’ve been writing posts for the last 13 years, and during that time I’ve made no secret of my opposition to psychiatric principles and practice.  Having to quit the field at this stage leaves me with a profound sense of incompleteness.  There is still so much work to be done, to which my only contribution will be cheering from the sidelines.

Although the anti-psychiatry movement has made a great deal of progress over the past fifty years, the psychiatric hoax is not only surviving, but is the dominant lens through which the great majority of people view personal distress and suffering.  This is not due to any great psychiatric achievements or insights.  Rather, it reflects psychiatry’s persistent use of deception and PR tactics to promote their guild interests at the expense of their customers.

The war against psychiatry – and I make no apologies for describing it in such terms – needs to be fought on three main fronts.  Firstly, we need to promote tried and true methods of dealing with distress that do not entail spurious medicalization, damaging “treatments”, and routine disempowerment of individuals who seek help.  Secondly, we need to continue vigorous critiquing of the psychiatric hoax wherever and whenever it surfaces.  When we ignore these spurious and pernicious accounts, we do a grave disservice to those countless individuals who have been victimized by the hoax, and who find validation in our protests.  And these are the people who will finally bury psychiatry in the morass of its own inane, arrogant, self-righteous disease-mongering.  Thirdly, we need to use every opportunity to educate various stakeholders, especially government officials – local, state, and federal – concerning psychiatry’s spurious medicalization of virtually every problem of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

And, of course, our primary objective must remain the exclusion of psychiatry from non-medical problems, and supplanting it with the kinds of natural social supports that have carried the human race successfully through thousands of years of wars, plagues, famines, corrupt politicians, natural disasters, and unscrupulous profiteers.

I very much appreciate the unstinting support and encouragement I have received from my readers over the years.  I also appreciate the level of commitment and courage that you have demonstrated, and continue to demonstrate, in the struggle against psychiatric corruption and tyranny.

I will leave my posts up on Behaviorism and Mental Health as long as they continue to attract readers, but, as I mentioned earlier, I will no longer be able to respond to comments.

Filed Under: A Behavioral Approach to Mental Disorders

About Phil Hickey

I am a licensed psychologist, presently retired. I have worked in clinical and managerial positions in the mental health, corrections, and addictions fields in the United States and England. My wife Nancy and I have been married since 1970 and have four grown children.

 

Recent Articles

  • AND FINALLY
  • RESPONDING TO DR. MOREHEAD’S SECOND ATTACK ON ANTI-PSYCHIATRY
  • DR. PIES STILL TRYING TO EXCULPATE PSYCHIATRY FOR THE CHEMICAL IMBALANCE THEORY OF DEPRESSION
  • RESPONDING TO DANIEL MOREHEAD, MD,  PSYCHIATRY’S LATEST CHAMPION
  • PROBLEMS AT A COLORADO MENTAL HEALTH CENTER
  • THE ENIGMA-MDD PROJECT: SEARCHING FOR THE NEUROPATHOLOGY OF “MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER”
  • ILLNESSES OR LOOSE COLLECTIONS OF VAGUELY DESCRIBED PROBLEMS?
  • WHY IS PSYCHIATRY SO DEFENSIVE ABOUT CRITICISM OF PSYCHIATRY? Part 2
  • WHY IS PSYCHIATRY SO DEFENSIVE ABOUT CRITICISM OF PSYCHIATRY? Part 1
  • ADDRESSING THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF MENTAL HEALTH – OR PERHAPS NOT

The phrase "mental health" as used in the name of this website is simply a term of convenience. It specifically does not imply that the human problems embraced by this term are illnesses, or that their absence constitutes health. Indeed, the fundamental tenet of this site is that there are no mental illnesses, and that conceptualizing human problems in this way is spurious, destructive, disempowering, and stigmatizing.

Disclaimer

The purpose of this website is to provide a forum where current practices and ideas in the mental health field can be critically examined and discussed. It is not possible in this kind of context to provide psychological help or advice to individuals who may read this site, and nothing written here should be construed in this manner. Readers seeking psychological help should consult a qualified practitioner in their own local area. They should explain their concerns to this person and develop a trusting working relationship. It is only in a one-to-one relationship of this kind that specific advice should be given or taken.

Privacy Policy

Popular Topics…

ADHD akathisia alcohol alcohol/drugs antidepressants antipsychotics anxiety benzodiazepines bipolar books worth reading case study chemical imbalance theory conflict of interest dealing with problems of daily living dementia dependence depression drug DSM DSM-5 ECT expansion of psychiatric turf IF THEY'RE NOT ILLNESSES WHAT ARE THEY? involuntary commitment Mad in America major tranquilizers myth of chemical imbalance myth of mental illness neuroleptics over-medicalization of everyday life parenting pharmaceutical industry placebo posttraumatic stress disorder Psychiatric "spin" research corruption schizophrenia shock "treatment" side effects somatic symptom disorder SSRI's suicide survivors of psychiatry tardive dyskinesia violence

© 2009–2023