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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