Dear Sun;
Regarding the topic of mental health… No one should assume that our mental health system is trustworthy or reliable. There are many problems. One of the basic problems, as in all other areas of American healthcare, is lack of affordable services for many. Psychiatrists charge high prices, and agencies like Medicare or Medicaid offer only limited, if any, mental health coverage (President Biden has a proposal to expand free healthcare to more people, but this has yet to become a reality.)
Secondly there is the issue of competency. Contrary to what many assume, psychology is not an exact science, unlike say chemistry or geology. And even a casual search online will reveal that psychologists have failure rates as high as 80% when dealing with issues such as anxiety, phobias, depression, etc. (Source: National Institute of Health and other websites). So people need to be on their guard.
Thirdly, psychology is too often used as a means of social control, to “fit the square peg into the round hole”, just like what the courts and the police do. And too many psychologists see themselves as authority figures or enforcers, rather than having any real respect or regard for their patients. But this is improper, since psychologists/psychiatrists have no legitimate moral, scientific, medical, or legal authority. In fact, abuse of people’s rights by psychologists has led to an entire “Anti-Psychiatry” movement worldwide, featuring such notables as Thomas Szasz (U.S.) and Georgio Antonucci (Italy). You can learn more about this movement online.
I would advise anyone dealing with the mental health system to FIRST visit the CCHR (Citizen’s Commission On Human Rights) website, and especially to study their “Mental Health Declaration of Human Rights”. This document will save you a lot of time and trouble and grief. It tells you what your rights are and how NOT to be taken advantage of by psychologists. The CCHR is a global non-profit group, and a psychiatric watchdog.
James Camilli
Cherry Hill
