# What are your views on psychiatry?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-views-on-psychiatry/677202>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 26, 2013, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-views-on-psychiatry/677202 "2013-12-26T07:44:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-views-on-psychiatry/677202/81 "2014-01-01T01:54:59Z")

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Well, half empty/half-full, **Orr**. From a historical perspective, psychiatry and psychology is _the most advanced it has ever been_. From a hypothetical ‘future history’ perspective, it will almost certainly seem as primitive as you say, j_ust as in all\*\* science_. Hell, humans may not exist in 10 years!

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**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-views-on-psychiatry/677202/82 "2014-01-01T03:39:02Z")

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> [@Truman\_Burbank](#):
>
> From a historical perspective, psychiatry and psychology is _the most advanced it has ever been_.

There was a time when “balancing the humours” was the most advanced that medical science has ever been. Doesn’t make it perfect or even accurate.

I don’t have a real dog in this fight, but IMHO it’s rather preposterous to claim today’s psychiatric methods are so brilliant and wonderful, when we used to say the same about lobotomies & stuff less than a century ago. In some ways it’s better, in other ways worse. But there’s always room for improvement.

> [@Tethered\_Kite](#):
>
> If I may, I’d like to make a distinction between _sympathy_ and _empathy._
> 
> Sympathy implies that the therapist is having feelings for the client. It happens and when it does needs to be dealt with by establishing healthy boundaries. A therapist who continues to, for instance, feel sorry for her client is apt to slip into enabling behavior or perhaps have difficulty sleeping over the client’s problems. It can create a sort of parent/child relationship.
> 
> A more workable state of emotion would be empathy - that the therapist understands the client’s struggle and the feelings the client is having related to it. It helps to keep the relationship on a more equal level and allows the client the dignity of carrying their own feelings and solving their own problems.

Recent thread: [Sympathy vs. Empathy](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=711103)

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**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-views-on-psychiatry/677202/83 "2014-01-04T18:48:41Z")

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"but IMHO it’s rather preposterous to claim today’s psychiatric methods are so brilliant and wonderful, "

Did someone do that in this thread? Or you strawmanning?

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