Scientology Vs Psychiatry

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The other night I watched an interesting documentary on the history of psychiatry.

This field, the documentary proposed, is historically rife with dangerous quackery and blatant disregard for human life (i.e., old-style asylums, Nazi eugenics programs etc). Why should the industry today be any different? Some fascinating and valid points were made.

As it went on, though, the arguments became progressively more flimsy and abstract. Any pro-psychiatry clips were obviously edited for negative effect. Things got very strange, however, when the documentary implied that psychiatry was somehow responsible for the 9/11 attacks (!).

This weirdness was all explained in the final ten minutes, when the documentary revealed itself to be a production of the Church of Scientology, and based on a Scientology-funded museum called “Psychiatry: The Industry of Death” in Los Angeles, California.

With this knowledge, it was fascinating to re-think what I had just watched. Even though parts of it were absolutely convincing, the unabashed demonization of the psychiatric industry was completely overboard. For example, I doubt that anyone could seriously argue that the bloody history of psycho-surgery in the twentieth century was anything but catastrophic for the patients involved.

Lobotomies, in which people had their pre-frontal lobes physically “scrambled”,  turned thousands in veritable zombies. It was considered a miracle cure, the quick fix for all serious mental maladies. The infamous Dr. Walter Freeman, with his icepick lobotomy roadshow, would today not seem out of place in a particularly gory Stephen King novel. 

Also, the pharmaceutical industry’s myriad financial ties to the field of psychiatry cannot be denied. Big pharma targets psychiatrists (and GPs) directly with gifts, outings and test samples; basically everything but outright bribery.

One thing I am deeply thankful for here in Ireland is the fact that the advertising of prescription pharmaceuticals to the general public is outlawed. The industry in America (where no such prohibition exists) depends massively on, simply, convincing people that they actually have the ailments for which the medication has been developed. All of the wiles of powerful advertising become focused on making people that they are sick. They prey on the romanticism of victimhood, and the promise of future happiness. 

And of course, there’s the medication of children and young students who are not “attentive” enough. If they can’t focus long enough on badly-taught minutae when they should be learning proper life-skills, they are fed pills until they bloody well can. As Bart Simpson said; “When I can’t stop fiddlin’, I just take my Ritalin – I’m popping and sailing, man!”

And yet, and yet…. in spite of all this criticism, one cannot simply demonize the entire industry. The fact is that medication has helped millions of people worldwide to get better from a variety of mental afflictions. In fact, I’m one of those people. I have been on two separate courses of anti-depressants in my life, primarily to deal with panic attacks and obsessive thinking. Of course, there is the danger of addiction. But most should be viewed as “window of opportunity”, a platform from which to make the mental effort to get better for yourself – and then discontinue the meds.

Stating that all psychiatry is “evil” is basically a form of religious fundamentalism, on a par with the fundamentalisms that inspire terrorists to murder “infidels”. It is the type of antiquated Manichean concept that drives useless conceptual wedges between people and cultures. It generates one-sided thought processes, impervious to and often aggressive towards conflicting viewpoints.

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It reminds me of Robert Anton Wilson’s assertion that no matter how many intelligent, reasonable people you have in a room, all you have to do is introduce one aggressive loudmouth to bring everyone down to that level.  This is illustrated very well in a BBC Panorama programme, in which the reporter investigates the Church of Scientology. He is harassed and harangued at every step by an aggressive spokesman of the Church. It all comes to a head when they meet, coincidentally enough, in the “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death” museum. The BBC reporter loses his head and actually screams at the spokesman. Let’s watch…

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I think that all of this demonstrates the dangers of one-sided thinking, and of belief systems (which Robert Anton Wilson abbreviated as “B.S.”) in general . It is of the utmost importance to constantly remember that no matter how strange the actions of another might seem, those actions make just as much sense to that person as yours do to you. Forgetting or ignoring this fact is the basis of all conflict, from arguments to wars. Organizations/cults such as the Church of Scientology tend to foster the abdication of individual responsibility in the face of “unquestionable” dogmas and the power of group mentality.

It’s not always easy to distinguish the propaganda of such organizations from any sort of objective reality; often the two are mixed for greater effect. But if someone tells you something along the lines of, say, “9/11 was caused by psychiatrists”, then don’t feel bad about using your common sense… and laughing in their face.

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Further viewing: Documentary –  “Psychiatry: The Industry of Death” :