I worked in a school some years ago that admitted only students who had been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder (mostly high school kids). Predictably, one of the most important people in the administration was a clinical social worker. I remember she said casually, at lunch, that she had the power to have anyone put away. Think, not only of her arrogance but of the folly of law. And then I remember reading about Thomas Insel, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Insel wasn't really a good "fit" for that agency, because he was a scientist, not a bureaucrat. He brought to psychiatry a skepticism about its "soft" science aspect. He was trained as a neurosurgeon and wanted to bring to psychiatry the tools of objective observation and proof. When he moved on from the NIMH, he join an enterprise called "Mindstrong Health" which seeks to use objective data in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. Now, I don't know if this is good. I do know it is an attempt to get away from the kind of authoritarian, subjective judgment that resulted in Marvin Siegel's institutionalization.
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Sounds like Insel was on the right track to helping ppl rather than controlling them :/