Psychiatry By Any Other Name

Psychiatry By Any Other Name

Harvard student Susan Putnins spoke truth to power without knowing it. (Marie Szaniszlo, "Clinic name issue driving ’em nuts in Harvard yard," Boston Herald, October 5, 2006) It is not just “the implication that behavior is the major focus of treatment,” psychiatry is a system of "treating" behavior and speech. Psychiatric drugs are made to eliminate symptoms. No brain matter is damaged until drugs are ingested. Neurologist Fred Baughman testified to a Congressional Committee saying that.
Harvard's Dr. Paul Barreira, substantiated that saying, students come to the clinic "for issues ranging from depression, to disagreements with roommates, to questions about sexual orientation." How are these "issues," anything more than normal emotions and interpersonal relations?
Today they are businesses. Ordinary human feelings and actions are now a professional business. Psychiatry by any other name is still psychiatry, an arbitrary method of social control with no due process protections.
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Roy Bercaw, Editor
ENOUGH ROOM
Cambridge MA USA

Clinic name issue driving ’em nuts in Harvard yard
By Marie Szaniszlo
Boston Herald
Thursday, October 5, 2006 - Updated: 05:46 AM EST

Harvard University is considering changing the name of its Mental Health Services department out of concern that some students may not seek help because of the stigma attached to the term. But a proposal to rename the department Behavioral Health Services has some mental-health advocates worried that the new name may also drive students away. “The danger is the implication that behavior is the major focus of treatment,” said Susan Putnins, a junior and member of the university’s Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy Group. “If you just change someone’s behavior, that person still could go on suffering.”
Over the coming weeks, the group will work with the department to survey students, faculty and staff and convene a panel discussion to come up with a compromise. Dr. Paul Barreira, director of behavioral health and academic counseling, said “behavioral health” has become a common phrase in the field and an often useful alternative to “mental health.” “Sometimes, students view that (latter) term as meaning that you have to be seriously disturbed to come here, when the reality is people come here for help with all sorts of issues,” Barreira said.
In any given semester, the department sees more than 2,000 - roughly 10 percent of the student body - for issues ranging from depression, to disagreements with roommates, to questions about sexual orientation, he said. “There’s no pressure to change the name (of the department),” Barreira said. “The point is to have a name that will make students comfortable coming here.” he said. “There’s no pressure to change the name (of the department),” Barreira said. “The point is to have a name that will make students comfortable coming here.”