What Kind of Psychiatry Do You Want?
What Kind of Psychiatry Do You Want?
This chapter discusses the failure of the dominant paradigm in psychiatry, which assumes that mental illnesses are genetically influenced brain diseases. The failure of psychiatry is the consequence of erroneous assumptions about the nature of mental illness, and of ignoring the importance of warmth and kindness in promoting psychological healing. A recovery-orientated, autonomy-enhancing approach calls for the finding of ways to give more authority to the consumer. It seems that the greatest force for good in modern mental health care is the rise of an organized and increasingly vocal consumer movement. Organizations such as the Hearing Voices Network encourage patients to pursue avenues of recovery that they choose themselves, and offer protection against mental health professionals who fail to address their members' needs.
Keywords: psychiatry, mental illness, brain diseases, psychological healing, mental health care, Hearing Voices Network
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