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Reymer 1
Liliya Reymer
Professor Lynn Taylor
English 1010
29 November 2013
Who Is Truly Bene !ng From The Mental Health Industry?
Carl Rogers, a former President of the American Psychological Associa!on once said,
"We can choose to use our growing knowledge to enslave people in ways never dreamed of
before, depersonalizing them, controlling them by means so carefully selected that they will
perhaps never be aware of their loss of personhood." In other words, Rogers is saying that with
the advancement of society and technology, people can be controlled without them even
realizing someone other than themselves has gained power over their life. Are the words of this
prominent father gure in psychology coming true today through mental disease diagnosis and
psychiatric medica!on? I believe that psychiatry’s conflicted alliances with the pro t making
drug companies has caused an epidemic of over-diagnosis on mental illnesses, even when no
scien! c evidence to support their claims exists. What brought me to ques!on what is
psychiatry exactly, and why are so many people told they are mentally ill? Like myself, you
probably know of someone who has hit a rough patch in his or her life. They decide to visit a
psychologist, who refers them to a psychiatrist, who then tells them they are su7ering from a
mental disorder. This results in the prescrip!ons of strong mind-altering medica!ons. A few
weeks down the road you hear from your friend that the drugs seem like they may be helping
but due to side e7ects, they now take addi!onal medica!ons. Weeks turn into months, the
drugs get stronger and stronger, and your friend now cannot func!on without them. This
Reymer 2
situa!on is far too common and it serves as a perfect example of what Rogers meant by robbing
a person’s self-iden!ty and personhood.
When it comes to the topic of mental health, most of us will readily agree that majority
of people at one point need help dealing with emo!onal and psychological issues. Where this
agreement usually ends however, is on the ques!on of how this help is received. Whereas some
are convinced that psychiatric medica!on is the key, others maintain that what’s necessary is
healthy rela!onships, support systems, and talking through the issues. To clear any
misunderstanding, let us di7eren!ate psychiatry from psychology. Psychiatry is the
understanding that a mental disease comes from biological, chemical, or a gene!c abnormality
in the brain, which can be treated by medica!on. On the contrary, Psychology has the view that
