Why psychiatric problems should not be treated as a genetic illness
At last the myth that psychiatric illness is a genetic disease has been challenged in our national press.
While I agree that all human beings are genetically predisposed to the possibility of experiencing serious emotional distress which, in a pathological sense, involves heightened interaction and levels of naturally occurring biochemistry, this in no way translates as ‘illness’ is the medical sense of the word.
For too long the barbaric treatment of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been used in an attempt to burn away painful experiences and associated emotion from the memories of young and old alike. Likewise, the overuse of mind-altering and ultimately brain-damaging drugs to suppress the frightening manifestations of deep emotional distress. How can people continue to trust the medical pillars of society when they continue to provide inaccurate and unscientific explanations such as the ‘diabetes/insulin’ metaphor for the long-term medication of people diagnosed with the multifarious label of schizophrenia and ‘chemical imbalance’ for depression. How can you rectify a balance when there is no way of measuring or knowing what such a balance might be?
Even our children are not safe from the unwarranted arrogance of medical practitioners who accept the unqualified expertise that society has imposed on them by seeking medical help for children whose behaviour falls within the full spectrum of what is normal but outside the levels of tolerance and expectations of our busy and often overworked parents and teachers. It is human resources and skills that are needed for our difficult children, not stigmatising labels and medication. All mind-altering drugs damage health and change how we feel, regardless of whether they are legal or not.
It is surely not rocket science to reach the conclusion that if people are not recovering their mental health, after years of trial-and-error medical treatment, then it is time to look elsewhere.
Psychological problems require psychotherapy and early and preventative social supports.
When will psychiatry acknowledge its limitations and adopt a more holistic and less hierarchical approach to helping people recover their mental health?
Asta Engebretsen
28 Lintown Drive
Johnswell Road
Kilkenny
