Psychiatry,is it science?

[eastwest]

if science has the power to predict and psychiatry seems to be not at all able to do it,why is it that it is among the medicine specialties.

[brockw69]

At a guess, it's among the medical specialities for those whom don't like blood and those whom like to control people.
Psychiatry is the governments best friend. I have noticed that, for the most part, psychiatry prescribes medicine that slows people down [antipsychotics, minor and major tranquilisers] Rarely do we see stimulants prescribed, except in children and some adults with add or adhd.
They rarely test for a diagnosis except to monitor ones response to a drug, if that fails, they use another drug until one finally works.
It has been reported that often, people respond equally as well, sometimes better, when prescribed a placebo.
The best psychiatrists are neurologists as they have a better understanding of the workings of the brain and nervous system.

Having said the above, many lives have been saved and changed by psychiatrists yet few if any have been cured.

[davidivad]

what logical purpose does this question pose?

 

do you have a better offering? maybe if all the emotionally comprimised people learned physics our problems would be solved. imagine what our forum would look like. get ready for more TOE theories. might i suggest that you let experts of the field do their job. slamming particles together will not stop you from being assaulted by a psychopath nor will a technology of raised fences and guns. you can even remove religion and this element of humanity will persist.

 

isn't quantum physics a science? it uses statistics due to the fact of uncertainty.

 

if we were in a court room i would ask that you rephrase the question.

[CharonY]

Well, medicine as a whole has applied as well as science parts. Most MDs are not engaged in active research but follow procedures to diagnose and treat illness. At least clinical psychiatry falls into the latter category. As all medical branches success rates tend to be connected to the knowledge of the particular condition, for which science is needed.

[brockw69]

If a question has no logic purpose, what logic causes people to read them and subsequently respond to them?

[davidivad]

If a question has no logic purpose, what logic causes people to read them and subsequently respond to them?

as a subsequent responder, i will be your expert witness...

 

it seems to me that that people in the aforementioned field get a bum wrap. i live in an area where there are quite a few sick people. to, in any way, imply that these specialists are not needed is silly. i have a severely schizophrenic neighbor that gets drunk, does not take his medicine, and is highly unpredictable to the point that it is scary. under treatment, most of these people can live a somewhat normal life.

i have a friend being treated for this same disease and he holds down a job. the difference between him being medicated and not is like night and day.

 

so, you can paint the field any color you like hook, line, and sinker.

i will always bite.

[brockw69]

For some reason, the quote button does not work for me and that is probably due to my computer illiteracy rather than a problem with the site.

Given that, in general, my post above is more than likely going to be interpreted as a bum wrap for psychiatry, it most certainly was not intended to do so.
I intentionally wrote the post in that format to spark debate. Reading through history, there has long been a kind of unspoken war between physicians; psychiatrists and specialist surgeons.

I must say that I would really like to know more about this science that has the power to predict, so much so, as I would like to specialise in that science and subsequently win the lotto 4 times a week. Science teaches us to 'presume' [predict] nothing and question everything. One may have a theory mapped out, however, only through testing the theory via experimentation, a theory proves nothing other than a philosophy.

At the end of my last post, I did make a 'kind of' disclaimer in saying that there are many people existing in the world today whom are directly benefitting from the field of medicine 'labelled' psychiatry and are doing so via the method administered. Additionally, there are probably just as many, if not more, people existing in the world whom are quite unaware of the situation with 'Jon Does' down the road and his treatment by psychiatry. If Jon Does was not being treated, he may well go on an 'unpredictable' spree of firing bullets around the place at people he suspects to be those tormenting him and so on and so forth.

 

I think that in any area of medicine, there is yet much to be discovered and that makes life exciting and that also may be why medical practitioner's have that label as they are always practicing medicine. I am yet to find a surgery etc... where the Dr is labelled Medical Perfectionist. [implicating that that Dr has perfected medicine and we can all put down our biro's and go to bed, nothing left to discover or practice in medicine]

Human behaviour is fascinating.

 

Thank you,
Warren.

[tkadm30]

I would gladly consider psychiatry a science (as opposed to a pseudoscience) if the diagnosis would rely on biological testing. For the most part, modern psychiatry is based on subjective interpretrations of psychology without careful examination of the neural correlates of the psychiatric symptoms.

 

Psychiatry is also a form of mystical alchemy as the treatments (ie antipsychotics) are not based on empirical evidences of the pathology but on superstitious beliefs of the effectiveness of the drug.

[StringJunky]

Psychiatry is also a form of mystical alchemy as the treatments (ie antipsychotics) are not based on empirical evidences of the pathology but on superstitious beliefs of the effectiveness of the drug.

I disagree. Drugs that alter state of mind are generally prescribed empirically I think. That is the prescriber will issue different ones that are specific to certain conditions until the one most suited is found via ongoing dialogue between them and the patient.

Edited December 26, 2016 by StringJunky

[DrmDoc]

SJ is right, antipsychotic medications are prescribed based on their efficacy through extensive research, which is where you will find the science in psychiatry. Antipsychotics address the neurochemical imbalances determined, through patient study and testing, to be the cause of the psychiatric conditions for which these drugs are prescribed. Type and dosage of these medications are not intuitive for every patient because the neurochemical particulars of every patient is not always well defined or the same. Patients require a period of adjustment and continual monitoring as these drugs act to balance or supplement the neurochemical measures their brains require to mediate a functional disorder.

[Function]

At a guess, it's among the medical specialities for those whom don't like blood and those whom like to control people.

Psychiatry is the governments best friend. I have noticed that, for the most part, psychiatry prescribes medicine that slows people down [antipsychotics, minor and major tranquilisers] Rarely do we see stimulants prescribed, except in children and some adults with add or adhd.

They rarely test for a diagnosis except to monitor ones response to a drug, if that fails, they use another drug until one finally works.

It has been reported that often, people respond equally as well, sometimes better, when prescribed a placebo.

The best psychiatrists are neurologists as they have a better understanding of the workings of the brain and nervous system.

 

Having said the above, many lives have been saved and changed by psychiatrists yet few if any have been cured.

 

Seriously? Conspiracy theories about psychiatry? You asked for it. -1.

 

And why are we having this discussion again? I thought we already sorted out this issue in a comparable way, discussing whether psychology were a science or not?

Edited December 26, 2016 by Function

[iNow]

The thread is 3 years old

[Function]

Oh my ... I should take a break from (stu)dying immediately. And I must stop assuming that one only reacts to "fresh" posts.