Are psychiatry and psychology effective?

Are psychiatry and psychology effective? It is often claimed by psychiatrists that they are the only ones who are able to manage or treat schizophrenia. Evidence from World War II calls this notion into question. When a French mental hospital lay in the path of the oncoming German advance, all of the patients were sent home to relatives, with the exception of 153 who were judged to be too ill to leave. The Germans arrived faster than anticipated, so the patients were left to fend for themselves. A Commission was formed after the war to determine the fate of those abandoned. Of those traced, 37% of the abandoned, untreated and hopeless patients were found to have adjusted into the community. A similar study was done with 118 schizophrenics who had been discharged from Vermont State Hospital 20 – 25 years previously. The study showed that through apparently spontaneous recovery, coming in most instances well after treatment, 68% had lost all symptoms of schizophrenia. by Rochelle Macredie e-mail: starchild@start.com.au or visit Citizens Commission on Human Rights http://www.cchr.org