Evening star., 1948-09-09
Letters to The Star
Further Views of Psychiatry

'T ~SSAo ~
Further Views Of Psychiatry
| TO the EDITOR Of The Star:
It doesn't take psychiatrist or psychologist
| to feel suspicious Of Charles M. DORIS embit-
| tered TRADE, "Psychiatry and Witchcraft," !"
printed September s.
However, am not writing merely because Of
Mr.. DORIS inappropriate display Of Affect q
| psychological and psychiatric phrase meaning
| that there is much more Of an emotional re-
| action than the situation at hand would seem
| to warrant. Apart from being unduly upset
| about his "psychiatrophobia," Mr.. Dorr man.
| ages to create some substantially incorrect
| conceptions Of modern psychiatry which should
be brought to the attention OF any one who
momentarily may have been carried away by
the vigor Of his attack.
Mr.. Dorr has q naive impression as to how a
science develops. He is alarmed that more
books have been written about the human
mind in the last Is years than during all pre-
vious history :. u. new theories, new drugs, new
treatments, new experiments and new discoy-
cries of all kinds are in process Of development
in this field" This could be said equally Of any
of q dozen scientific fields today and seems to
me to be 4 desirable situation rather than
something to bemosn. The fact that there are
contradictions and conflicting opinions" in
the books is only to be expected with any
progress 1t is in the clash Of theories that we
finally arrive closer to the truth. No science
has ever avoided this, nor do any avoid it now.
AS new facts and new understanding develop
the older concepts show their weaknesses or
strengths and are discarded or held more
FIRMLY, Man has been trying to understand
himself for many more than the last Is years,
and psychiatrists are the first to admit that
we still are far from the whole truth Mr.. Dorr
expects a spontaneous perfection from psy-
chiatry that, most fortunately, and with more
understanding, pSychiatry does not expect from
him.
Most serious, however, is Mr.. DORIS impug-
nation against the ethics Of psychiatry. Care
less allegations of this nature are unWar-
ranted and unfair to medical specially which
vigorously maintains the high professional
standards found in all other branches of medi-
cine. He leaves the impression that people
Unfortunately are being adjudged insane and
then subjected to violent torture in mental
hospitals First of all, insanity" is legal
term and not medical one. The proper legal
authorities, upon the very careful medical con-
sideration of duly licensed physicians, decide
who is insane and should be sent to mental
hospitals This is far from indiscriminate and
almost always depending upon State law, re-
quires permission either of the individual him.
self or some close relative. As \ matter Of
fact, it has been largely upon instigation of
psychiatrists that laws for the institutionalizs-
tion of the mentally i'll are at their present
stage Of development, and they continually are
pressing for further safeguards to prevent
disqualification except where medically desir-
able. As for the "excruciating ordeal" Mr..
t. I.nf,, .l,,Iv~
torture chambers or hidden dungeons. Shock
treatment-impressive and awful as it may
seem to the onlooker-carries with it an am
neSia that eliminates pain. incidentally, in
keeping with the rest Of the letter, Mr.. Dorr
distorts the statement from the Illinois Neu-
ropsychiatric Institute. If they say that one
third improve and recover after this treatment,
they do not imply thereby that the other two
thirds get worse. Only the otherwise hopeless
cases ere given this treatment in the first
place, and if one-third improve that is GER
tainly to be preferred to the pitifuly psychotic
condition before treatment.
AS for the conditions of mental hospitals,
they are a far cry from what they used to
be when greater majority Of people ignored
| or pooh-poohed mental illness much as Mi.
Dorr does. Only as people recognize the need
/ for adequate medical care for mental illness
will more and more improvements in service
and facilities come. Mr.. Dorr and others who
feel strongly on the subject should expend
their energies in support of greater care for
the mentally i'll rather than attempt to cope
with the problem by saying 1t doesn't exist.
Thousands and thousands Of veterans seeking
help from various psychiatric installations
throughout the country are proof OF the urgent
and increasing need for this service. We
nh +l,a g.
| of witchcraft" if we were to put blindfold
over their eyes and tell them their illness has
disappeared. The recent report by Mr.. Ewing
of the Federal Security Agency, 1.-THE Nations
Health, Ten Year Report" emphasizes the
| Increased need for medical facilities for the
| mentally i'll. It is patiently evident that civil
| jzation is becoming more complex and more
people are being mentally shaken by the in
creased tension. The Veterans Administration
Is doing much to accelerate the bettermept
| of facilities for the care and treatment OF
| mental illness and yet there still are far
from enough psychiatrists, clinical psycho]-
ogists, and allied specialists to take care oi
all the people who want and need treatment
| for mental disturbances. Indeed, in the face oi
this most discouraging situation it is almost
| to be desired that Mr.. Dorr were right and
| that this were all 4 fgment OF the psychl-
artists imaginations. 1t is the more disheart.
eping but realistic viewpoint to realize that
rather than exaggerating the problem Of mem
tai disease, psychiatry still is not able to meet
| it's full demands. ELI A. RUBlNSIElN -
| 70 the Editor Of The Star:
| was amused on reading Charles M. Dorr
| letter to The Star entitled "Psychlatry sno
Witchcraft" He links together these two
studies and suggests that witchcraft is the
predecessor of psychiatry AS see It, one
would be the cure Of the other.
was also interested in MIR. DORIS statement
that the monstrosities of the human mlnd
described by psychiatrists are really only the
imaginary creatures dreamed up by the hal
lucinated imaginations Of the authors" What
| an idiotic statement!
There are psychiatrists in all mental institu-
tions (wfere Mr.. Dorr would perhaps Ike to