Please try and remember that while there may be many problematic practices and practitioners in the world of psychiatry, the majority are just trying to heal the sick like all other doctors.
Well, it's best not to think it about what the "majority of practitioners" sets to do, but with what is established as the standard theory and practice of their profession, that is, what they are conditioned to do.
As you move away from hard science like physics and math, all sorts of power plays, prejudices and societal norms come into play. You know, like homosexuality was considered a mental disease back in the day. Psychiatry not only advances the societal and power norms on those matters --it also obeys and enforces them.
A society that is messed up in many ways, will also tend to consider those that are against this mess as 'mentally ill'. It's not that different with what happened to dissidents in the USSR, just more subtle.
The "all other doctors" part really bugs me. It's mostly true for most specialties, but certainly there are examples of plastic surgeons performing questionable procedures, and obstetricians who perform more conveniently scheduled C-sections than are medically justified.
Well, it's best not to think it about what the "majority of practitioners" sets to do, but with what is established as the standard theory and practice of their profession, that is, what they are conditioned to do.
As you move away from hard science like physics and math, all sorts of power plays, prejudices and societal norms come into play. You know, like homosexuality was considered a mental disease back in the day. Psychiatry not only advances the societal and power norms on those matters --it also obeys and enforces them.
A society that is messed up in many ways, will also tend to consider those that are against this mess as 'mentally ill'. It's not that different with what happened to dissidents in the USSR, just more subtle.