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Episode 112 - Patreon Selects: Desperate Remedies for Mental Illness
Dr. Andrew Scull is the Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Emeritus, at UCSD. He has written extensively about the history of psychiatry and the treatment of madness. We discuss why it seems like the more you know about mental illness, the less clear things become. We also explore myths about biology and neuroscience, the likelihood of a clear solution for improving psychotherapy, and the politics that have shaped our mental healthcare systems.
Episode 34 - VBT in History (1950s): The DSM-I and Thou
The first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-I) was published with the intention of creating standardized language for mental abnormalities. It was also basically a war department bulletin. The controversial compendium is responsible for many important contributions to the fields of psychiatry and psychotherapy, but it also legitimized new forms of oppression and stigmatization in the name of normalizing judgments. This is part six of twelve monthly episodes revisiting bad therapy through the decades.