Reviews for Infant psychiatry

The average rating for Infant psychiatry based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2007-11-17 00:00:00 Angela Buzzella I love this book. This is a little book of maximums and quotes by Dr. Szasz. If you don't know Dr. Szasz, he is a psychiatrist who hates psychiatry. More correctly, he objects to the medical model that underpins psychiatry. He believes that this error in it's basic assumptions has lead to bad consequences and blind alleys. His most famous book is called 'The Myth of Mental Illness.' This concern with using a 'wrong model' has lead Dr. Szasz to look at language, and in this book of maximums are his thoughts on how we use language to define and color our moral judgments. It's kind of an expansion of the old proverb, 'what's good for the goose is good for the gander.' For instance, Dr. Szasz notes that we say 'policemen receive bribes,' but we say 'politicians receive campaign contributions.' Why the difference? Why do we say, 'tobacco is sold by merchants,' but 'marijuana is sold by pushers.' When we don't like a TV program, we wouldn't call a TV repair man. Why then, when we don't like the way a person behaves, do we call a medical psychiatrist? The best way to get a feel for this book is just to read the preface and learn how the doctor came up with the title of this book. He says, "we all know what is the first or "original" sin: eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But we have tended to forget what the second sin was: Speaking clearly." In the first sin, God wished to prohibit man from knowing the difference between good and evil, and consequently Man could not make moral judgments. The knowledge of good and evil was the providence of only God. But man went against God's command, and by eating the fruit, became aware of something only God was meant aware of, the difference between good and evil. As a result, God punished man, and drove him out of the Garden. The second sin occurred during the construction of the tower of Babble. At that time, all men spoke only one language, and because there was only one language, men could be clear with one another, and there was no limit to what they could accomplish; they could build a tower to the Heavens if they desired. But again, Man encroached on the providence of God: Thinking and Speaking clearly. God came down and punished Man by confusing his language and thereby confusing his thought process. That is why today, Man is enjoined to follow the law, and not worry about the details, they 'why's' and 'wherefore's.' But all men are sinners. If a man is to be a man, it is his nature to question Authority, to make judgments, to wonder what is really good and what is really evil. It is Man's nature to attempt to think and speak clearly. But it has always been the goal of Authority to prevent Man from doing these things for himself without obtaining permission. In early history, it was the Church that demanded that Man not question Church wisdom. Then it was the Government state that demanded Man not questions the decrees of the state. Today, it the medical psychiatrists who seek to control us by confusing out thinking. Authorities have always tended to honor and reward those who close man's mind by confusing his tongue, and have always tended to fear and punish those who open it by the plain and proper use of language. Every age has it's high priests who seek to control us by debasing out language and confusing us. And every age has the iconoclasts who cry out that the Emperor has no clothes, and we are being bamboozled. Dr. Szasz sees himself in the latter category, with men like Voltaire, Bierce and Mencken. This book is out-of-print, but is not difficult to find.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-07-18 00:00:00 James Kay What a surprisingly interesting little book. This was left on the "free cart" at my library and I was enticed by the strange cover that is sadly not available on Goodreads. Normally, I don't find myself relating much to books written by men in the seventies about their ideas on marriage, sex, and social topics. However, this book called for the pen. I found myself nodding in agreement and underlining sentences left and right. Someone should probably incorporate this into a college class or something. The part on marriage is humorous in the fact that it is so glaringly true (often), and the fact that many are so completely oblivious to this said truth. The love section is summed up succinctly. The sections of significance, justification, and classification are informative and pertinent. The section on language is particularly eye opening, because wording is everything. I don't know if this book resonated with me so much because I'm a realist, and I feel that the author is too, but I really felt much of what he had to say. It might also be because I'm fond of the cynical. I will say, however, that I do disagree with his stance on mental illness. I believe mental illnesses are real illnesses that can be contributed to chemical imbalances, genetics, trauma, ect. I believe you can inherit bipolar disorder just as easily as you can diabetes, and that you can come develop panic disorder like you can develop cancer. I get the gist that the author thinks most mental maladies are either contrived from power hungry psychiatrists who just want to put a name on something and push some anti-depressants, or are more or less the excuses some people chalk their inadequate attributes up to in order to get sympathy and such. Are there people walking around right now claiming one mental illness or another that are not really mentally ill? Yes. Are we in a time (more so now then then) were mental illnesses are somewhat romanticized? Kind of. But if making mental illnesses household topics helps brings someone who is hiding theirs to terms with it...then I consider it worth it. You can't go around invalidating people's feelings and issues. And yes, some people do need to be committed. And yes, sometimes that means involuntarily. Other than those few points, I agree with almost everything this man has to say about everything. It really brings to light the lies we tell ourselves, the lies other people tells us, and the cardinal sentiments we've been per-programmed to believe through the centuries.