In this case, I believe it is important to approach this documentary carefully because it is clearly bias and representative of only the facts and opinions supporting the negative aspects of psychiatry. The documentary seemed to take historical events or places such as Bethlem or the Holocaust, and likened them to the the desires and purpose of psychologists today. In the past, individuals of different races were considered to be mentally ill based on the study of eugenics. While eugenics were constructed by psychologists of the past, that does not mean that Hitler’s methods are supported by psychologists of today (contrary to what the documentary suggests). The documentary also illustrated how racism reinforced eugenics in the apartheid
…show more content…
Some treatments included submerging patients into water in coffins or placing them in a “tranquilizer” chair. In Bethlem, individuals could pay admission to see mentally ill patients for fun. Benjamin Rush believed that mental illness was caused by having too much blood in the head, so he believed in order to cure the illness you had to remove the excess blood by whatever means possible. Henry Cotton manipulated patients and took away body parts that he believed to be the cause of the illness. The beliefs of William Wundt were summarized as the elimination of the human soul and the beliefs that humans were animals that could be trained. I found this funny, because humans are considered complex animals even if we don 't share common characteristics with other species and is it really a terrible thing if humans can be trained and can learn different tasks? The documentary stated that B.F. Skinner used his own daughter to experiment on shaping human behavior by placing her in a controlled environment box for a long period of time like the lab rats. Just because the study of behavior is still prevalent today, does not mean that research is conducted in the same way. Behaviorism is defined in our textbook as the “School of psychology that formerly restricted itself primarily to the study of overt behavior”. I believe that today it has evolved into so much more and is truly beneficial …show more content…
I believe people have a hard time accepting the DSM because it is less objective than other fields of science diagnostic books. Also, people with mental illness do not always exhibit signs as clearly as someone with the flu. It may be hard for someone to imagine the possibility of the existence of some of the illnesses listed in the DSM because of their lack of awareness and the complexities of illness. While the DSM may not have ‘statistics’ it is a compilation of the thorough research, case studies and professional opinions of those who have the best understanding of mental illnesses up to this point. There was also a concern about the increase diagnosis of ADHD in elementary school children. While it may be hard to test the validity of the diagnosis, I don’t believe that an increase in this diagnosis is surprising. Socially and culturally I believe that society today promotes children to struggle with paying attention and focus because of increased stressed and more distractions with technology that may not have been present in earlier
Some treatments included submerging patients into water in coffins or placing them in a “tranquilizer” chair. In Bethlem, individuals could pay admission to see mentally ill patients for fun. Benjamin Rush believed that mental illness was caused by having too much blood in the head, so he believed in order to cure the illness you had to remove the excess blood by whatever means possible. Henry Cotton manipulated patients and took away body parts that he believed to be the cause of the illness. The beliefs of William Wundt were summarized as the elimination of the human soul and the beliefs that humans were animals that could be trained. I found this funny, because humans are considered complex animals even if we don 't share common characteristics with other species and is it really a terrible thing if humans can be trained and can learn different tasks? The documentary stated that B.F. Skinner used his own daughter to experiment on shaping human behavior by placing her in a controlled environment box for a long period of time like the lab rats. Just because the study of behavior is still prevalent today, does not mean that research is conducted in the same way. Behaviorism is defined in our textbook as the “School of psychology that formerly restricted itself primarily to the study of overt behavior”. I believe that today it has evolved into so much more and is truly beneficial …show more content…
I believe people have a hard time accepting the DSM because it is less objective than other fields of science diagnostic books. Also, people with mental illness do not always exhibit signs as clearly as someone with the flu. It may be hard for someone to imagine the possibility of the existence of some of the illnesses listed in the DSM because of their lack of awareness and the complexities of illness. While the DSM may not have ‘statistics’ it is a compilation of the thorough research, case studies and professional opinions of those who have the best understanding of mental illnesses up to this point. There was also a concern about the increase diagnosis of ADHD in elementary school children. While it may be hard to test the validity of the diagnosis, I don’t believe that an increase in this diagnosis is surprising. Socially and culturally I believe that society today promotes children to struggle with paying attention and focus because of increased stressed and more distractions with technology that may not have been present in earlier