Psychology and psychiatry are founded on the theoretical information found in the DSM - Read Pathological by Sarah Fay. She makes an extraordinarily good case that there is no hard science to even back up that these diseases exist, that we can P ROVE a single person is suffering say panic attacks or bipolar disorder. In case of fact we have people (laymen) self-reporting symptoms and we DO know from hard science that our perceptions are often faulty. Plus it is based on logic, argument, history, case studies but Zero actual proof ie: we have not devised a scientific experiment that can prove any of it. Now that wouldn't be so bad a thing if they told patients straight off the bat we THINK you are suffering this or that disease - I for one have been told that I DO definitely have bipolar disorder w/psychotic features by my many doctors. Follow that up with the fact that they do not know how the medications actually work and that everyone reacts differently to different chemical concoctions and finally that it is more art or instinct or intuition that guides drs in deciding which meds should be given to which patient as there are many kinds for the different diseases and what you end up with is a patient who is given info as if it is written in stone when it is not . Plus we are told we will not get better if we don't take them and that if we continue to not follow dr's advise they have come up with a means of blackballing you - they just diagnose you as noncompliant after which you can no longer receive help from those in that profession (that is if they even bother to look up your info which many do not - so one can still likely find a shrink or therapist to treat oneself but if they catch onto the fact that you are notorious for not taking your meds then they often will back away).
I am NOT saying the entire profession and school of thought is necessarily wrong but that there is a distinct possibility that a good bit of it IS wrong and why every few years the DSM is upgraded to encompass new theories - that is what they are - theories and theories only - there is no science as in using the scientific method (systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.) that proves any of it. Yet they present it the way a doctor of medicine would - meaning they use the same amount of authority when handing out these diagnoses and medications as they do with heart disease which CAN be proven with tests with the result that too many are over diagnosed and over medicated.
Being labeled mentally ill not only puts a negative stigma on the patient it also tends to become a self-fulfilling prophecy in that one is told the symptoms of the disease and side affects of the drugs and one often uses those as a measure for labeling their behavior ending up basically becoming just as the book theorizes not so much as a result of personal experience that led you there but due to the reverence we pay science in this country - it almost boils down to a religion because people tend to take scientific hypotheses as facts not theories - and indeed we have been mighty successful (but far from perfect) scientifically and the advancements made based on them successful as well - usually. But the take away here should be that one should not identify as their diagnosis even if it seems to describe you now - people change - quite a lot over the years - our whole body replaced in about 7 years. Bottom line is yes try the meds and listen to your psychiatrist and psychologist but with a huge grain of salt, be aware that you can make dramatic changes, you are the arbitor of your destiny not a diagnosis and you needn't take it as gospel or a part of your identity (which is hard to not do when we are trained to take drs advise as if it is handed down from above)
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