Psychiatry, the Early Years

Thoughts From 75 Years Ago

---

By Frater Bovious
9th Level Adept, THOOTR

I've always been a bit skeptical of any psychiatry or psychology espoused in a magazine or in the common press. The field is thought of as science, yet to me it fails the first basic test of science: reproducible experimental results. That and the fact that concepts are extrapolated from 'the lower animals'.

No, I am not trained in these fields, but most people spouting the crap they spout about psychiatry are not either. So, I feel comfortable spouting an attempt at a voice of reason. For example, the simplistic uses of the Skinnerian model of behavior, wherein human reactions are extrapolated from the reactions of poultry will become more valid to me once it can be demonstrated that a chicken will at times just do whatever because it is waiting for that opportunity to peck your eye out.

Regardless, I ran across this quote, which is very interesting for many reasons, not the least of which is how long ago it was said.

A little less worry over the child and a bit more concern about the world we make for the child to live in; an inclusion of the child in a life of which the aim is not merely to earn money so as to become independent of the job; more love for whole-hearted, creative work and progress that will make possible what we all can share in; with these conditions, the adult and the young both will have a better chance. -- Adolf Meyer, What Can the Psychiatrist Contribute to Character Education, May, 1930

fb