Wiki for Dr. McClurkens Courses

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Questions for Tues. Sept. 28, 2021

1.	Grob tells us Dr. Rashi Fein (1926-2014), the author of a study dealing with the economics of mental illness, wrote this: “What society can spend (and ultimately what society should spend) depends on the value system that society holds to.” (247) Dr. Fein has been called “the architect of Medicare.” How is America doing in 2021? Have we made real progress since the 1950’s?

2.	Freud tells us when emotions are prevented from escaping normally (repressed) then people become disturbed and manifest all sorts of psychological and physical maladies. (215) Do you agree? I am especially interested in this theory as it relates to wartime trauma aka PTSD.

3.	Szasz, a critic of psychiatry, feels that advocates of psychiatric treatment are seeking to exercise social control aims through the unwarranted application of science in situations considered not amenable to the scientific method. In other words, what is normal and who calls the shots when defining the parameters of sound mental health? I think I hear Foucault. Do you?

Submitted by Bonnie Akkerman     I pledge…

1. In Chapters 7 and 9, Grob outlines how public favor shifted in favor of early prevention for mental illness and away from extreme treatments for "chronic" conditions. Is this a breakthrough in the history of mental health? How could this philosophy work better on some conditions than others?

2. To what percentage would you say Freud and Szasz agreed on mental illness as a whole?

3. Do you find Szasz's overarching claims about mental illness extremely pedantic, or is he getting at something significant? What would you say are his main arguments against "mental illness" existing, or at least using that term?        (Not to be biased, but I hate the guy; just a heads-up).

Submitted by Theron Gertz      I pledge...

1.	Grob states (194) that during WWII, Colonel Frederick Hanson, who was a psychiatric consultant in the Mediterranean theater, had developed a method of psychiatric “first aid” for troops that were exhibiting signs of “combat exhaustion” (what we might call PTSD today). This treatment which included mild sedation, “rest and relaxation under psychiatric guidance” seemed to work well, enabling troops to rapidly return to duty. PTSD was not a recognized disorder until 1980, but I’m wondering if there are any studies of WWII veterans that show that early treatment of troops suffering combat trauma helped them minimize psychiatric problems after their service.

2.	Grob notes that the “most striking therapeutic development in the 1950s was the introduction of psychotropic drugs” (228). The use of these drugs made previously intractable patients more manageable, which “improved staff morale…and created optimism among family members” (230). What about the patients? What are the ethical quandaries here?

Submitted by Chris O'Neill

1. On page 157. of Mad Among Us it says that Dr. Thomas Salmon identified crime and delinquency as mental rather than social problems. Why were the socio-economic reasons for crime disregarded by Dr. Salmon? As his view goes against what was already known and established in other countries by this time, such as the United Kingdom. Was it tied to in some way the early eugenics movement?

2. Thomas Szasz has similar views to Foucault, were they in contact with each other or work together at any point? Also Szaz seems to place a heavy difference between the mind and brain even though by that point there has already been established connections between the two. So why did he disregard these connections outright?

Submitted by Parker Siebenschuh

1. In Freud's first lecture from the Szasz reading, he points out that the first patient's symptoms may be due to some form of brain injury, which is exactly what I thought this was. However he moves away from the actual medical concerns into his psychoanalysis, but I wished he would have focused more on her condition. To me it sounds like she suffered from a traumatic brain injury that caused her mobility issues. He also describes what sounds like aphasia, which is attributed to "gibberish" and thus "madness." I'm curious to see what everyone else thought about the descriptions of patients and what Freud has to say about them.
	
2. What do you think of the movement that intended to strengthen patient rights instead of abolishing mental hospitals? This was even supported by people who were institutionalized against their will, like Elizabeth Packard. Why do you think this is so?
	
3. World War II can be described as a turning point in the 20th Century, instigating change in many different movements and ideologies. What about the post-war years prompted changes in mental health policies?

Submitted by Lyndsey Clark. I pledge…

1.) Why do you think it took an entire war; literally, for society to direct its focus towards the importance of proper mental care?

2.) Based on Grob's reading; do you think that if the war had never occurred; would we have the same approach on mental health that we have today? Do you think that mental health care would be handled worse or better if not for the effects of the war?

Submitted by Erica Banks. I pledge....

1. Did these patients actually remember events, or was it something Freud and Breuer planted in their minds?

2. Why would women, like Elizabeth Packard, who have seen firsthand how asylums operated, only fight for legal rights of the patients and not for asylum reform?

Submitted by Audrey Schroeder. I pledge...

1. Why do you think the treatment of mental health tended to use treatments that had no theoretical basis? What does this say about the outlook on the treatment of mental health?

2. Why do you believe that war acted as such a catalyst for change in the way that Americans viewed their mental health system? Do you think progress still would have been made if the war had never took place?

Submitted by Jack Kurz. I pledge…

What role did psychiatrists have in creating sexual double standards between men and women?

What is the difference between the moral hygiene of the past and the mental hygiene movement?

Submitted by Allison Love. I pledge...

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