From: utzoo!laura Newsgroups: net.misc Title: Re: Social Scientists as Pinkos Article-I.D.: utzoo.2180 Posted: Wed Jun 16 03:50:25 1982 Received: Wed Jun 16 03:50:25 1982 References: eagle.362 There is this strange phenonemon in society today -- the revered position of the doctor and the *psychiatrist* in particular. Quite a large proportion of my friends and aquaintances have 'shrinks' and when I mention that I dont believe in them I get looks and stares. One would think that I had the plague! I can just hear them muttering 'you mean she wants to be maladapted to society?' and other (for them) nasty things. I find that I have a fundamental dislike of letting other people do my thinking for me -- and anyone who claims that today's 'shrinks' arent as guilty as proponents of DIANETICS or THE UNIFICATION CHURCH of chanelling one,'s thinking either have not been to one or are incredibly unaware of their own suggestibility. Somewhere we have become convinced that doctors are all-wise like Marcus Welby, and that psychology is becoming a science, instead of the horrible mix of fact, theory, and old-wives tales which is the actual case. This is very strange, given that we are quick to criticize our fellow computer scientists on all sorts of things (self-documenting code, whether one is a hacker) but seem to place so much faith in psychiatry which is less worthy of the title 'science' than computer science. (And we werent all able to agree on that one, either). There are no Hari Sheldons (sp?) able to map out the future based on current knowledge of pshchology. There is little or no agreement among the social-scientists themselves. There is merely a society which, having done away with the pastor and the rabbi, now considers itself more enlightened when it believes the 'shrink' and the social worker. The same criticisms which can be made of religions can be made of modern psychiatry, all in all, with a few exceptions, it boils down to a matter of faith. Until psychology becomes a true science (and I doubt that this will ever occur) then psychologists merely have an educated opinion based on their experience ... same as I do .... not the gospel word of the new god of technology, to be believed and honored, because it is the truth. cheerfully maladaptedly yours, laura creighton decvax!utzoo!laura