Re: Psychology Culture

You are right all Psychologists are not bad people, "but some are." There is some important knowledge that comes out of Psychology and its systematic approach. And that is my point I am glad to see you concur. Psychology is a culture in itself just like law enforcement, and in general the diagnosis are made by asking the patients questions. That is not exactly directly scientific, and the brain scans they take aren't very reliable either because the brain is often misunderstood. It is known that it can "rewire" itself in ways that have not been comprehended yet. Psychologists use the bible of psychology to diagnose their patients it is called DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). Every year they meet and add new conditions to the manual.

"Many conditions have made their way into the DSM and nearly none are later removed. Homosexuality was until recently listed as a mental illness, one believed to be amenable to treatment, in spite of the total absence of clinical evidence.".......

In the 1950s the American Psychological Association (hereafter APA) commissioned a study of the scientific standing of psychology. In 1963 the result was published in six volumes as "Psychology: A Study Of a Science" (Koch, S. (Ed.). (1959-1963). New York: McGraw-Hill). Sigmund Koch, the director of the study, came to these conclusions:

"The truth is that psychological statements which describe human behavior or which report results from tested research can be scientific. However, when there is a move from describing human behavior to explaining it there is also a move from Science to opinion." (emphasis supplied)

"The hope of a psychological Science became indistinguishable from the fact of psychological science. The entire subsequent history of psychology can be seen as a ritualistic endeavor to emulate the forms of Science in order to sustain the delusion that it already is a science."........

One might think the dismal history of psychology and the recent revolution in psychoactive drugs might cause more than a few psychologists to wonder whether their field means anything at all. But the absence of a scientific foundation for psychology means that, like religion, it can prevail in the face of overwhelming evidence that it has no fixed, testable content.

This seems an appropriate time (and context) to comment on psychology's “bible”: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and its companion, the International Classifications of Diseases, Mental Disorders Section (hereafter jointly referred to as DSM). Now in its fourth edition, this volume is very revealing because of its significance to the practice of psychology and psychiatry and because of what it claims are valid mental illnesses.

Over the history of the DSM and as a result of valiant efforts, this "bible" of clinical psychology has come to define more and more conditions as evidence of mental illness. As an example, in the current edition, the following conditions are defined as mental illnesses:

Stuttering
Spelling Disorder
Written Expression Disorder
Mathematics Disorder
Caffeine Intoxication/Withdrawal
Nicotine use/Withdrawal
Sibling Rivalry Disorder
Phase of Life Problem
Putting aside for the moment the nebulous “phase of life problem,” excuse me? – “Sibling rivalry” is now a mental illness? Yes, according to the current DSM/ICD. And few are as strict about spelling as I am, but even I am not ready to brand as mentally ill those who (frequently) cannot accurately choose from among “site,” “cite” and “sight” when they write to comment on my Web pages. As to “mathematics disorder” being a mental illness, sorry, that just doesn't add up.

http://www.arachnoid.com/psychology/index.html


Exposing the Fraud of the DSM
http://www.cchr.org/attorneys/articles_of_interest/exposing_dsm_fraud/


"PSYCHOLOGICAL tests aren’t magic, so let’s get that clear right at the beginning. They assess and evaluate information that you give to the examiner, which is why the formal name of psychological testing is psychological assessment. You give this information either in the form of answers to interview questions or as answers on paper—or on a computer—to specific questions. Ultimately, a test’s accuracy depends on how carefully and seriously you answer the questions you’re asked"

http://www.guidetopsychology.com/testing.htm


*** I am not saying that the manual and psychology is not of value, in fact because there are so many people who believe in it's diagnostics and statistics, I find that it is prudent to study such text in order to gain understanding of the psychological perspective. I do not find it to be nonsense as some may feel about the BIBLE, rather I make sense of it by studying the culture which surrounds it and the systematic knowledge that it represents. Tweet