Is Borderline Personality Disorder a “brain disease”? Are the many mental illnesses now being labeled by some psychatrists – not all – who are forwarding biopsychiatry – often referred to as “biobabble”? What reason other than the big Pharma drug push in the United States does psychiatry have for this (in the eyes of some psychiatrists and psychologists) pseudo-science? A.J. Mahari interviews Dr. Niall McLaren and Australian psychiatrist and author of “Humanizing Psychiatry” and “Humanizing Madness” on The Psyche Whisperer Radio Show Friday July 23, 2010 7pm EST.
Do you think all psychiatrists agree with the idea/theory of biopsychiatry – mental illness as a brain disease? You’ll want to listen to my up-coming interview with Australian Psychiatrist, Dr. Niall McLaren, author of two outstanding and refreshing – paradigm shifting books, “Humanizing Madness” and “Humanizing Psychiatry” – We are tentatively scheduled for this Friday, July 23rd at 7pm – EST time – Saturday July 24th in Australia – due to time differences and scheduling being complex we hope this will work – if not I’ll keep you posted on any changes. Please share this with anyone you think will be interested!
Dr. Niall (Jock) McLaren is an Australian psychiatrist, author and theoretician. His work opposes the mainstream view in psychiatry to the extent that he argues modern psychiatry has no scientific basis whatsoever. However, he insists that he is not “anti-psychiatry,” but a committed scientist following his duty of criticizing the prevailing models in his field in order to improve it. He is the author of the two books, Humanizing Madness and Humanizing Psychiatry. In Humanizing Psychiatry he examines Restriction the Scope of Biological Psychiatry, Resolving the Mind-Body Problem for Psychiatry, Applying the Biocognitive Model to Psychiatry.
In his book, Humanizing Madness: Psychiatry and the Cognitive Neurosciences, he offers a critique of the place of biopsychosocialism in psychiatry as well as examining, among many other important information, the categorical system of diagnosis when it comes to personality disorders. Dr. McLaren speaks of what he terms a theory of mind when refuting the claim led by many in psychiatry and neurology in the United States that mental illness is an organically generated brain disorder.
Dr. McLaren provides evidence in this book that the major theory in psychiatry are so flawed as to be beyond salvation. McLaren proposes Interactive dualism as a partial solution to the mind-brain problem for psychiatry in a paper by that title. Too many people are only hearing one loud beat of a drum – a drum that largely beats to the drum of pharmaceutical companies and prescription medication sales. Could this be why many in psychiatry today seek to reduce mental illness to a “brain disorder” or “brain disease”? What’s wrong with psychiatry? Is it helpful to view mental illness as having an entirely biological cause? Does that make sense to you? For more information on Dr. McLaren and his books please visit the show’s blog at psychewhisperer.com
