Observing a Problem, Naming It and Fixing It Are Entirely Different Things
by Gene Zimmer

Just because an actual mental or emotional problem exists, can be named or defined, and may even be very severe and upsetting to many people, including the sufferer, does NOT mean that the suggested "solution", such as ECT, psychoactive drugs, or lobotomy, presented to you by a psychiatric "professional" is safe, useful or effective in any way. Because a psychiatrist recognizes and names a specific mental condition or behavior in NO WAY implies that he knows anything or can do anything effective about it. There is a tremendous gulf between naming something and understanding its true nature.

Seeing that a person is exceptional depressed has nothing to do with understanding why they are depressed or how to solve this problem of depression. The psychiatrists and drug companies would like you to believe they have figured it all out, but they have not. Not at all! For the most part they don't even know why various drugs even do what they do. Of course, they have many theories that they parade around as factual, but honestly, they generally don't have a clue. What they have done is primarily catalogued a huge variety of problems people have into "mental illnesses" and "disorders". This is really all they have done, and even this is severely flawed because these conditions are NOT "illnesses" similar to any physical illness. Redefining "life problems" and "problems with one's mind" as mental "illness" was the huge theoretical hurdle taken by the psychiatric field in their successful attempt to gain acceptance and recognition as a "legitimate profession".

1. Naming something, 2. understanding something, and 3. being able to handle and effect changes in something are very separate and different things. People tend to confuse these three things. These things are completely confused within the field of psychiatry. They can "name" and "label" people with all sorts of "illnesses" and "disorders", yet have absolutely no actual understanding of the source of these problems and have no effective solution for these problems (outside of intentional brain damage and dysfunction caused by their "treatments", which are not valid "cures").

Many people "explain" to themselves that "things fall to the ground" because of "gravity". But, to most people, the term "gravity" means "things fall to the ground". Many people possess a sense of personal and real understanding when they explain the rock falling as being "due to gravity". People discuss it and think they understand each other. But there is no real understanding, because "gravity" equals "things fall to the ground" to most people. Actually, what they are saying is "things fall to the ground" because "things fall to the ground"! Things fall. That's it. The point here is that observing a phenomena and naming it has NOTHING to do with understanding it and being able to control it. Calling the phenomena "gravity" bestows a false sense of understanding, which doesn't actually exist. For more on this see Reality, Belief and the Mind. The same sense of false understanding due to "naming" is also true in psychiatry and most obvious in its voluminous cataloging of "mental disorders" and "illnesses" in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV).

Calling a condition "depression" is another way of saying a person "feels low, despondent and lacks energy and drive". The word means that. There are varying degrees of it, and it can exist whether there seems to be sufficient reason for it or not. But thinking anyone understands anything more than that because they look at a person and say "oh, he has depression" is absurd. The psychiatrist looks at the person, listens to their description of their problems (he calls it an "ailment"), and then supplies this false sense of understanding by suddenly exclaiming, "you suffer from depression". This somehow miraculously bestows a sense of sudden and immediate understanding to the "patient". They experience a sense of relief now thinking they know what is "wrong:" with them. It's a complete farce. This is true for every single "disorder" in psychiatry.

It gets really crazy and destructive when the labeling of the condition is tied to the concept of it being an "illness" or "disease", which you are not responsible for and cannot do anything about other than taking drugs or receiving shock treatments. You never deal with your own personal inner world of thoughts, emotions, goals, desires, and intentions. These factors, and these are real factors, have a tremendous involvement with one's success in life, reactions to life, happiness, and emotions. You are never encouraged to become familiar with, learn about or control any aspect of your own mind. The psychiatric "solution" ignores these factors and discards any sense of personal responsibility. It all makes perfect "sense" within its own convoluted system of logic. But it's completely a lie. It is a false and contrived view of reality that bestows a very false sense of understanding.

Psychiatry has named to the point of excruciating detail numerous "mental illnesses" and "disorders". But the error here is assuming they understand and can do anything at all about the conditions they observe and chronicle. Their understanding of "mental illness" and "disorders" as being based in physiology, genetics and biochemistry is false. Obviously, all purported "cures" following from this false understanding would be expected to fail and they do. Psychiatry ignores the "mind" completely and thereby blocks itself off from any true understanding, help and improvement of the situations they pretend to address. Besides causing intentional brain dysfunction or damage, there isn't much psychiatry does.

"The brain-disabling principle applies to all of the most potent psychiatric treatments - neuroleptics, antidepressants, lithium, electroshock, and psychosurgery. The principle states that all of the major psychiatric treatments exert their primary and intended effect by disabling normal brain function. Neuroleptic lobotomy, for example, is not a side effect, but the sought-after clinical effect. It reflects impairment of normal brain function.

Conversely, none of the major psychiatric interventions correct or improve existing brain dysfunction, such as any presumed biochemical imbalance. If the patient happens to suffer from brain dysfunction, then the psychiatric drug, electroshock, or psychosurgery will worsen or compound it." - Peter Breggin, M.D., psychiatrist ( a rare one with honesty and personal integrity!)

Yes, it is true that people do have problems with their own mind, with life and with other people. That is the nature of life and living. Some have it easier than others and some have it real bad. At times it may seem that shocking or drugging a person into an altered state, or oblivion, is better than the suicidal or destructive behavior they were experiencing previously. But make no mistake about it, psychiatric techniques are oppressive, very harmful and often irreversible. These approaches 1) fail to address the actual source of the problems they pretend to "cure" or "handle", and 2) the techniques confuse the mind further making any legitimate future attempts at correcting the problem(s) that much more difficult.

"With drugs and shock treatments, the psychiatrist instead attacks the subjective experience of the person and blunts or destroys the very capacity to be sensitive and aware"
-Peter Breggin, M.D., psychiatrist

Sensitivity and awareness are necessary for any person to address and deal with their own thoughts, ideas, fears, goals, intentions and imagination. Reducing or destroying these results in one's inability to take responsibility for their own life. This is the result of psychiatric "treatments". Modern psychology and psychiatry ignore the mind of Man and go so far as to consider it not to exist. The word psychology has been redefined over the past 50 years to exclude the concept of the mind.

Mind/Body Relationship

The brain, mind, body, emotions and thought are interrelated. Exactly how is not currently known or understood. The psychiatrist and materialist would have us believe all causes lie in genetics, chemical imbalances, electrochemical phenomena, physiology and environmental factors. But this is very far from the truth. You drink a cup of coffee and "feel up", improve mental clarity and are set to face the day. Obviously, there is a relationship between the physical and the mental and emotional aspects of man. Hallucinogenic drugs greatly alter perception and thought. But similarly, receiving good news can reversely suddenly shake a person out of despondency and give them an entirely new view on life. The successful use of a visualization technique can change a person's view on life, and even has been known to affect physical conditions. Prayer has been documented to alleviate and even cure diseases in some instances. It's a two-way street.

There is an obvious relation between the physical and the mental. Physical situations effect mental and emotional things, and visa versa, mental and emotional can things affect the physical. Meditation techniques and biofeedback have been proven to alter brain functioning. Certain Yogis can slow down their heartbeat rate and even enter physical comatose states by thought alone. Obviously, the picture is much larger than they would have us believe. The large error with psychiatry is assuming the physical (physiology, genetics, biochemistry, and environment) is the complete and sole cause of everything mental and emotional. This is a huge error. They refuse to accept the possibility that it's a two-way street. The mental realm can and does equally effect changes in the physical. Sadly, psychiatric methods act to inhibit and harm the functioning of a mind, thereby reducing its ability to do what it can and should do.

Psychiatry will cite various tests as "proof" that thought is biochemically based. Tests have been done where various sections of the brain are electrostimulated with resulting experiences of joy, sadness, and vivid memory recall. Again, there is an obvious relation. But to assume a direct, one-way only, causal relation is absurd and simply intellectual dull. That's not at all what the tests indicate. The mind and thought involve a unique realm that has its own properties and functions. It is ignored completely by psychiatry with disastrous results.

Psychiatry is one promotional and sales arm of major drug companies. Major drug companies fund all the research. It should surprise no one that their studies consistently explain everything as biochemical in origin requiring drugs as the solution. You are living in the Land of Oz if you think for a second that a major drug company would ever fund, much less publish results, encouraging any approach to solving problems with the "mind" other than their own drugs. There is no money in meditation, visualization, biofeedback or any other alternative approach to dealing with the mind. Worse, using the FDA, the drug companies wage an unrelenting war against any practices that have the slightest chance of competing with them. Don't think the current "scientific" and "psychiatric" views evolved out of total honest and sincere investigation into the cause of man's ailments. They evolved out of millions of dollars of funding by profit-motivated groups and individuals.

But Psychiatry Works! - Does It?

Some will argue "but it works!". "I was going to kill myself and after taking the drugs I stopped feeling this way".

This is true. But the above still applies completely. The true source of the problem was never addressed and the psychiatric "solution" directly acted to further submerge the true source of the problems making them that much more difficult to ever handle at a future time with a more legitimate approach involving personal responsibility for one's own mind, life and experiences. You could just as well tie the suicidal person up in a straight jacket or knock them unconscious with a baseball bat and they would not kill themselves. It would have "worked". Notice the "straight-jacket" is just another of psychiatry's methods. But it also never addresses any actual problem source. The method simply exerts force on the person thereby preventing them from acting out the suicidal thoughts. Drugs very much act in a similar way, as a mental straight jacket, altering awareness, perception, personality and sense of self. Psychiatric drugs are in effect "chemical force" exerted on the brain, emotions and mind, and not a "cure" that addresses some actual "disease" or "illness". Everything said about drugs here is even more true for ECT (electric shock), and in the case of ECT the method employs electrical force.

The methods of psychiatry from straight jackets and physical restraints to ECT and drugs ALL rely solely on FORCE. But why expect otherwise? We live in a world dominated by a materialistic view. The observable physical universe operates on force. The huge error is equating the realm of the mind to the physical universe. The mind, all it does, and and all its contents are completely invisible to the physical senses and advanced scientific measuring devices. Thought at its highest level has nothing to do with the laws or operation of the physical universe. It doesn't follow the same laws as the physical universe. Forcing this equality of mind to the material universe simply degrades a mind resulting in a mind mimicking the behavior patterns of the physical universe. What does this mean? It means that the mind, which ideally should be creative, imaginative, responsible, self-determined and causal instead becomes non-creative, unimaginative, irresponsible, other-determined and effect. Rocks get kicked. Machines are manipulated. Buildings are smashed and destroyed. When man and his mind are viewed as physical "objects", he also winds up getting kicked, manipulated and smashed. This IS modern 20th century reality, and it is not a good thing and will lead to further disastrous results for us all.

Behaviorism

The modern social planner and psychologist "solve" man and his problems by treating him like any other physical object to be controlled, forced, and manipulated. People today are encouraged to "conform" to reality, "adjust" to the environment and "fit in" socially. This is behaviorism. It's all about someone deciding what we should all be like and then using any and all techniques available to make this so. People are viewed as "things" to be controlled. You are not perceived as a creative agent capable of deciding for yourself through personal observation and knowledge. You are seen as an object, to receive stimulus and environmental causes, with the result that you become the EFFECT. You are never encouraged to decide for yourself and adjust the environment to your own views. See the difference?

Creative beings control the environment, bending it to themselves and their own wishes. They make the world around them conform to their own ideas. Modern psychiatry and social control manipulates you to their ideas of what you should be. There is a huge difference between these two approaches. One approach is empowering and recognizes every person as a causal agent. This approach leads to happiness, success, and sanity. The other approach, embraced by modern psychology, psychiatry, and sociology views every person as an object of effect, to be controlled. This leads to unhappiness, failure and insanity. That is the result of treating thinking, aware, sentient beings as nothing more than physical matter and energy.

More Labeling

The ONLY thing psychiatry has done is label various conditions people experience, such as "depression", "anxiety" or "compulsive". And psychiatry pretends to "cure" these conditions through the application of force, whether it be brain surgery, straight jackets, involuntary commitment, ECT or drugs. In a similar way, heretics of the Spanish Inquisition were "labeled" by the Priests and "cured" through duress and torture. The Priests had terms such as "demons", "possession", "evil", "satanic", "witchcraft" and "heretic". These terms all referred to exact things that were very "real" to them. The heretic often confessed, recanted and was "cured". First, the Church leaders could have appealed to reason, understanding and responsibility in an attempt to help the "possessed" and heretical. Failing that, they then applied oppressive methods that, sure enough, got the desired result. But at what cost? Second, the basic error with the Spanish Inquisition was an absurd religious ideological belief system. Without the mythology of demons, witches, devils, and possession tied to the religious mythology, the oppression never could have taken place. The same situation is exactly true with psychiatry. It's largely a mythology presented as "science" that enables the oppressive practices to continue. Although both the Priest and the psychiatrist believe implicitly their ideological structure, neither has anything to do with actual truth. The results of both practices are harm, degradation and confusion.

A detailed nomenclature of terms implies no necessary validity. It only implies a system of logic or thinking that makes sense within its own structure. The entire ideological system of the Inquisition "made sense" within itself. It was "logically consistent". If there were "demons" as they defined them, "witches" as they defined them, "possession" as they defined it, and so on, well it all makes "sense". The problem is there weren't and aren't any of these things. Similarly there are no actual "mental illnesses", which are diseases in any medically understood sense of the word. If you believe that, then you are apt to believe the entire charade. If you accept the notions of "biochemical imbalances", "chromosomal mental disease" and so on, you will fall for the entire belief system. And make no mistake about it, it is completely and ONLY an arbitrary and false belief system.

The naming of myriad "mental illnesses" and "disorders" through in-depth investigation and research of various conditions creates the illusion of "scientific" validity. Various people learn all these names and complicated descriptions, talk in a way that appears "intelligent" to the uninitiated, and become psychiatrists. But naming and redefining conditions of a mind and life as "illnesses" does not make them "diseases" in any standard medically treatable sense. Redefining routine problems of life and the mind as "diseases" was the huge leap taken by psychiatry that enabled them to gain a place in modern medicine. It gave the field an air of "professionalism" where none should exist. This is the major basic flaw of psychiatry and its current approach to handling people, their mental and emotional problems.

This flaw of modern psychology and psychiatry prevents any useful treatment of Man by their methods. Their methods also eventually degrade any society they are involved in. There is only one solution . . .

Say NO To Psychiatry!

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©Gene Zimmer 1999 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED