Lecture 3 Emergence of the Psy-ences PDF

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Lecture 3: Emergence of the Psy-ences Century of The Psyences -20th c., growth in size and importance of the psy-disciplines ● as madness transformed into mental illness, its meaning moved beyond reason into emotional/moral issues ● meaning was changed, madness was a disconnect from reality/reason, mental illness is emotionality and morality ● by basing emotionality/morality in the brain, the psy-disciplines simultaneously freed people from consequences of their actions, while also dooming them by implying permanence -mental health problem implies diminished responsibility, individual themselves is not fully in control -mental processes become seen as central to human endeavour, from advertising strategy to occupational health to school performance ● rather than being confined to asylum, the information begins to other parts of life ● link between psychology and advertising ● turn them to “comprehend and surmount problems of the human condition like despair, loss, conflict” ● Intrinsic to humanity, in 20th century think we don’t need to experience these things ● everyday concerns like “sex, marriage, womanhood and manhood; work, ambition, worldly failure, habits, desires, inclinations” subject to psychological understanding ● boom in pop psychology, ranging from how to make decisions to the “Art of picking up” Century of the Psyences II -mental health concerns now central to everyday life, with 20-50% if population receiving a diagnosis -others prophylactically attempting to improve/protect mental health ● Rise of “mental health industries” - professionals, life coaches, spas, self-help books ● Mental health knowledge spread through schools, mass media, social media, police services, government services etc. -these shifts have “changed expectations about what it is to be human” -as a result, “mental health” became something that required immediate, and sometimes drastic, attention -how have we gotten here? Freud - A True Revolution -psychiatry’s greatest moment or fatal blow?

Basic theory -mental disorder result of conflicts between id (pleasure all the time), superego (voice of society, rules, regulations), and ego (mediates between the two) -when theres a breakdown in this system, thats when people manifested mental health disorders -conflicts began in childhood. When ego overburdened bu demands of the id and superego (anxiety) it utilizes defence mechanisms (repression, denial) -these processes unconscious in nature -parts of human mind that were not simply accessible, to get there required active work with psychiatrists, psychoanalysis, etc. -talking about it could bring it to the surface → talking can help! Psychoanalytic Movement -intensifies belief that the processes of the mind are knowable, mutable ● That we could label processes of mind, mind was changeable -fortifies psychological approaches, notion of individuals as intrinsically ill -took psychiatrists out of the asylum, widened meaning of mental illness -impetus for dozens of other psychotherapeutic modalities Pre WWII Climate -yet psychoanalysis remained beyond reach for many individuals and theoretically repugnant for many practitioners -psychiatry, sick of custodian label, sought to reintegrate into mainstream medicine -amidst climate of “desperation” (overcrowded asylums), search for new methods and cures -these “heroic treatments” expanded another front - the somatic Fevers, Comas, and Shocks -Julius Wagner-Jauregg develops malarial fever therapy- treating the psychoses of G.P.I. -30% of people got better, the others died -Manfred Sakel pioneers insulin-coma therapy to treat schizophrenia -Ladislas Von Meduna, believing that epilepsy and schizophrenia were “mirror image diseases” attempts to treat schizophrenia by inducing epileptic seizures through Cardiazol Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT) -not gone away -1938 Cerletti and Bini pioneer ECT by using electrical stimuli to induce seizures for treatment to severe psychosis (tested on dogs) -although the choose “electroshock” for method, electricity only for induction of a convulsions -brief electrical stimulus which indices a cerebral seizure, typically 6-12 sessions -controversial → playing around with lab rats, unusual treatment that made a huge difference in their life

Psychosurgery -1935, egas moniz hears that monkeys underwent emotional changes after removal of part of their frontal brain lobes -tries it out(drilling holes into patients’ heads and cutting with wire), claims incredible results for leucotomy -awarded the nobel prize in 1949

Walter Freeman -moniz inspires walter freeman, begins propagandizing lobotomies across the US -wire above eye into brain -introduces the “transorbital lobotomy” -tours US, providing demonstrations on more than 3000 people -lost license because some people died -witnessed behavioural changed, but if you chip away at a brain it will change their behaviour… is it the success of the patient (do they feel better), the family (is the person easier to deal with), or the physician (did the procedure change their behaviour)? Controversies and legacy of heroic treatments -uncertainties over mechanisms -what does “Success” look like? How do we define it? -health risks, issue of ethics → no authority for psychiatrists -yet, others defend them as re-establishing connections between psychiatry and medicine, preserving interest in biological approaches -regardless, somatic/psychological models co-existed (and co-exist) The Psychopharmaceutical Revolution -discovery of chlorpromazine in early 1950s, the first explicitly “anti-psychotic” (or “major tranquilizer”) -subsequent development of medications with ever-widening indications -ushers era of therapeutic optimism, transition away from hospitals -huge upswing in use of prescription meds to manage mental health Pharmaceuticalization -what we consider normal, abnormal, healthy, sick, safe, dangerous, manageable, life threatening, ethical, dehumanising, masculine, feminine, necessary, and superfluous are all tempered by psychopharmaceuticals -beyond alleviating into realm of enhancing -in short, we are in a period of intense medicalisation (pharmaceuticalization) of life itself

Pathways to Pharmaceuticalization -a cultural obsession with technology, borne from the 1950s onwards -pressures, pace, and competitiveness of modern life make quick fixes far more attractive -consumerist critique: we only trust those things that we can buy and hold. It’s convenient. Reasons for Growth in Psyences -scientific advancement -professional expansion -shift towards hyper-rationality and objectivity ● Facilitates governance by transforming people into calculable, measureable beings -shift towards neo-liberalism → individuals responsible for “self governance” Conclusions -20th century rise of the psy-ences have reshaped human experience -suffering positioned as fundamentally individual activity, rather than social in nature -identification of deviance increased in frequency and intensity of treatment -reasons for growth numerous and subject to disagreement...