Fetal Positions, Everyone

I have the impression that some psychoanalysis has moved beyond Freud, Jung and Adler to psycho-pharmacy, dealing with chemical imbalances in the brain.

I have no professional connections to the field, but the topic interests me.

I Know it has progressed way beyond anything I have read. That's why I started the thread. I am certain somebody will step in to discuss and explain.

Good morning, edgarblythe and Noddy, I agree that psycho meds have taken over but that these meds may be just a bandage on a festering wound.

The problems that attach to mental illness can be medicinized but the ability to meet an deal with life is a horse of a different color. Remember before we had the homeless we had mental hospitals.

And yes there were problems with people being institutionalized for years without proper treatment or misdiagnosed. But in the 1970s due to a number of court battles we/the courts through out the baby with the bath water. Now most mentally ill people are either homeless on the street or in jail.

The answer is somewhere in between I think. With the dissolution of the family, de- intuitionalism of mentally ill combined with the reduction in social services; I think we are cooking up a social and philosophical brew that will haunt us for decades to come.

Just how our people policies in the US ever be justified? People can spend thousands to attend a sporting event but cannot contribute a wit to the support of the social fabric of the family.

Yes, the whole safety net structure has been all but thoroughly rooted out of the American system. It seems the new standard response is, "Suck it up and be a man. Whatever. But, don't be a leech on society." That and designer drugs.

truth
Edgar, I do not think I have much to contribute here, but do keep in mind that while most psychoanalysts are psychiatrists and most psychiatrists dispense psychotropic drugs, not all psychiatrists are psychoanalysts. The latter still favor "talk" as their principal tool of therapy. As I understand it, they do so in order to bring about fundamental changes in the shape of one's dysfunctional personality structure, not simply to remove symptoms. This is why the approach takes so long.

I have been known to vent an occasional primal scream - Just ask my wife.

Psychologists nod their head while you talk while trying to decide what diagnosis to give you. Psychoanalysts are the ones that try to "get inside your head" figure out exactly why people have certain behaviors, issues, whatever, when the "behavioral seeds" were planted. Basically, they are what psychologists used to be before they could just pass out pills and send you a bill.

Yes, I know pretty much of the general information. But, I wanted to know what different schools of thought are out there as much as anything.

Shrinks come with and without medical degrees.

Since the advent of HMO's most shrinks of either sort have discovered that the patient can be helped in 30 sessions or 20 sessions or whatever coverage the HMO provides.

How many shrinks does it take to change a lightbulb?

Only one--or none. The lightbulb has to want to change.

I should've known that question was too simple

*sigh*

lol

But what the hell, I'll still give my two cents, if you'll take them. I believe that overall, an analyst-type is way more beneficial long term since they DO try to get to the root of the problem and start the treatment there, rather than the symptoms.

However, I also believe that they can sometimes go way overboard and overanalyze

It is said in some circles that the psychiatrist is often looney as a bedbug, with way more problems than the patients; this being the reason said psych. became attracted to that field. In some cases it could be true...

Very interesting concept... I was studying Psych and Sociology... and you may have a point!!

edgar

A bit off topic, but I always loved Kurt Vonnegut's description of his malady & the cure for it. Till age 50 he suffered from deep, deep melancholia, in fact so did many in his family. Then, at age 50, his "condition" was diagnosed. Depression, obviously, & as a result, he took a small pill each day. His own diagnosis of what had ailed him was "bad chemicals" & this small, daily pill fixed things right up!

Interesting subject, I'll listen in for a while. By the way, a friend of our family is a Psychiatrist. It used to be, that every time she came to a family get together, she would try to psychoanalyze everyone. Nevertheless, she finally stopped doing it when she realized we were getting tired of it. I still think she's the one that needs the therapy.

I came from a childhood so restrictive and abusive that I believe I might have benefitted enormously from psychotherapy. As it was, I worked it mostly out and after the age of fifty began to become a mature adult.

Edgar

You & Kurt .... Something about wisdom & acceptance at age 50, do you think?

As that wise philosopher/song man, Fats Waller observed, "One never knows; do one?" As I read your description of Vonnegut, I began thinking of the novel, Portnoy's Complaint. In case you haven't read it, Jewish Portnoy tells his story all the way from childhood to the present, leaving out no compromising details. We assume he is talking to the reader, until, at the bottom of the last page, when this German voiced psychiatrist is suddenly introduced. He closes out the book by saying to Portnoy, whom I told you was a Jew, "Und now, ve begin."

edgar

Yes. A wonderful book, Portnoy's .... It's been years since I read it, but I remember at the time, feeling vindicated in my hunch that family can drive an innocent person crazy!
As my family is Eastern European (though not Jewish) there was much I could identify with & get hot under the collar about.

I thought when I created this thread there would be a number of a2kers with degrees or something responding and educating us. Wha hoppen?