Behaviorism and Mental Health

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

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Moderation Policy

This website is about psychiatry. There are three main themes:

  1. Psychiatry is based on the spurious notion that all problems of thinking, feeling, and/or behaving are illnesses.
  2. Psychiatry’s practices are destructive, disempowering, and stigmatizing.
  3. There are better ways of dealing with life’s problems than those offered by psychiatry.

These are the issues that I write about, and I very seldom digress, even slightly, into other areas. I do, of course, have opinions in other areas, but if I were to start expressing my opinions in those areas, I would inevitably dilute my efforts on the central topics, and would perhaps alienate individuals who support my positions on psychiatry but might disagree with me on the other matters.

I don’t compromise my position with regards to the three propositions cited above, but I also try to avoid alienating people who generally support the anti-psychiatry movement, even if their position is not as extreme as mine. My reason for this is that fragmentation of the movement strengthens psychiatry’s hand. For me, this is critically important, because despite our very real gains in recent years, the psychiatric juggernaut is still going at full speed, and they are very busy deflecting and spinning our critiques. If I had a slogan, I suppose it would be something like: “Psychiatry is fundamentally flawed and rotten,” and I keep plugging away at that theme. It’s not really too difficult, because they obligingly give me examples of this rottenness on a daily basis.

I welcome comments on the site – either pro or con. I routinely try to engage people who disagree with me in constructive dialog. Sometimes this can be helpful. Other times it goes nowhere. In the latter cases, I usually reach a point where I say: “Let’s just agree to differ” – and I disengage. The reality is that I’m not going to convince everybody, and I need to concentrate my time and limited energies on the task in hand.

There is very little censorship on this site. There is a spam-blocker which keeps commercial sites out. Occasionally one gets through and we remove it manually. The only other material that I’ve ever censored were comments that were horrendously offensive and pretty much devoid of content. I’ve taken down two, or possibly three, comments of this kind in the five years that the site has been up.

I have never censored comments for content as such. My reason for this is that I recognize that psychiatry has its destructive tentacles in every aspect of human existence. They have damaged people of all ages, in all walks of life, and in a multitude of ways. I think it’s reasonable to expect a comments section to reflect this diversity. I try to respond to all comments, but sometimes a post generates a great deal of discussion, and I am unable to keep up.

Every empire that’s ever existed has used the Divide and Conquer tactic to maintain its position. Psychiatry is no exception. By all means let’s disagree. That’s healthy, and can be very productive. But let’s also stay focused on the target: the spuriousness and destructiveness of organized psychiatry.

 

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.

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