This was an entertaining book. I have a clearer understanding of psychopaths and psychiatry, although both are more complicated and require further study to truly understand. I was interested in how the third version of the psychiatry checklist manual greatly expanded, boosting the prevalence of misdiagnoses and the sale of drugs for mental illness. Certainly, we live in a time in which everyone seems to be diagnosed with something, to be taking drugs for something, or to be attending therapy regularly. It is both disturbing and fascinating.
Ultimately, psychiatry may be nothing more than a crapshoot. Sometimes, the diagnoses, drugs, and therapy may be helpful and needed. Other times, psychiatrists may not know what they are doing and have it all wrong.
The paradox for me is that there is too great a tendency to label and define everything, but not doing so can be dismissive. Every quirk or oddity must be the result of a mental illness. However, the flip side is that the behavior could be ignored or inadequately defined.
1 comment:
Yes, it's an entertaining book, but don't draw too many conclusions from it.
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