The Myth of Mental Illness

[Guest guest]

Thought this might be of interest. This is how it starts out. A revolution is

taking place in the world of human psychology1. Before the revolution,

psychology relied on untested, sometimes untestable assumptions about an

abstraction called the mind, and science had no important role. After the

revolution, there will be a new science where psychology now stands.

In a recent Scientific American article entitled " Faulty Circuits " 2,

Insel, director of the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH), describes

recent efforts to bring an evidence-based, scientific perspective to the

diagnosis and treatment of psychological ailments. Insel says, " From the

scientific standpoint, it is difficult to find a precedent in medicine for what

is beginning to happen in psychiatry. The intellectual basis of this field is

shifting from one discipline, based on subjective 'mental' phenomena, to

another, neuroscience. Indeed, today's developing science-based understanding of

mental illness very likely will revolutionize prevention and treatment and bring

real and lasting relief to millions of people worldwide. "

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