Who else thinks that psychiatry is just glorified literary theory?
Perhaps we should be blaming literary theorists for their fascination with psychotherapy. I’m not aware of the situation in England (I am assuming you’re English due to the use of the words “bloody” and “trope”), but in North America, psychiatry has moved away from psychoanalysis and more towards “biological psychiatry”, which assumes that most or all mental disorders are due to malfunctioning brain mechanisms. This view has its own faults, of course, in that it ignores the fact that a person’s thoughts and perceptions of reality are a legitimate target for therapy. To take an example, giving an abused woman antidepressants because her abusive relationship has worn her down and assuming that that will fix the problem is ridiculous; the woman needs help in getting the courage to leave the relationship and change her circumstances, something that can be a legitimate domain of therapy. Mental illness and psychological pain are real and do require assistance. Research indicates that the mo
